Last week 65 Shrewsbury Square was featured on these pages. The luxurious three-bed apartment is on the market asking €2.5 million, just four years after its owner, a company registered at a Dublin solicitors firm, paid the developers a mere €1.375 million for the 179sqm first-floor unit. If it sells close to its asking price of nearly €14,000 per sq m, it will blow all other apartment sales in the last five years out of the water given that the highest price achieved was €10,200/sqm for a penthouse on Ailesbury Road earlier this year.

Should it find a buyer, The Block knows of one couple who will be particularly pleased. Wexford-born oilman Tommy Dreelan and his wife Siobhán quietly snapped up the development’s crown jewel, 80 Shrewsbury Square, in 2012 for €2.42 million. In absolute terms, it was the highest price achieved for a Dublin apartment in years, but in reality the purchase was a bargain. The 320sqm floating palace was originally intended to be two substantial penthouse apartments but, when the recession hit, the developers opted to merge it into a single lateral unit and it is quite likely Dublin’s finest apartment. It occupies the entire top floor of Block C and features four terraces, marble and oak parquet floors, high ceilings, a walk-in wine cellar and a master bedroom with no less than two en-suite bathrooms.

To top it off, the apartment was sold complete with a whopping four parking spaces, two lock-up units and is accessed via not one – but two – private elevators. If the asking price of Number 65 is realistic, the Dreelans’ penthouse must be worth north of €4 million.

Prior to purchasing Number 80, the couple were already well acquainted with the development, having purchased 59 Shrewsbury Square, a penthouse in Block A, in 2009. That apartment traded hands in 2015, according to documents filed with the land registry, and its new owners are thought to also have ties to Aberdeen, where the Dreelans are based.