JUST before the bubble ended, a number of developers submitted planning applications for major developments in areas like Sandyford in south Dublin, which was supposed to be a new boom town for developers.
Five years later and those planning applications are starting to wither. Bankrupt developer John Fleming is the latest example.
His company, Sipter, which is developing the Rockbrook scheme, is now in receivership after making a net loss of more than €133m for the year ended October 1, 1998.
Sipter, now run by Pearse Farrell of FGS on behalf of AIB and George Maloney of Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon on behalf of Bank of Scotland Ireland, has applied for an extension of planning to allow it construct nearly 850 apartments, neighbourhood retail shops, offices and a crèche.
Fortunately for the receivers and for other developers, former environment minister John Gormley’s Planning Bill, which was passed last year, allows an extension of time for planning applications when economic factors mean developments cannot be carried out, something which should be easy to prove.
