MUCH of the attention surrounding Ray and Danny Grehan’s Glenkerrin Group spat with the Nama has focused on their properties in Ireland, but it’s worth paying attention to their London investments.
Selling agent Knight Frank has put an asking price of between £34 million and £38 million (€38m to €42.5m) on The Forge apartment complex that Glenkerrin developed on the Isle of Dogs close to Canary Wharf. The decision to sell the 188 apartments in the complex in a single lot was apparently made before Nama appointed Grant Thornton as administrators to Glenkerrin’s UK assets.
“Knight Frank were instructed by the directors to market the Forge prior to my appointment as administrator on 10 May 2011,” Malcolm Shierson of Grant Thornton told Around The Block.
Sources said that the complex could raise £42 million (€47.19) if it was sold off to first-time buyers and investors over a 12 to 18-month period, but a decision had been made to see if a single investor can be found.
The selling price that will be achieved by the Crowne Plaza hotel Glenkerrin owns in Shoreditch also bears watching. Sources said Ray Grehan had a purchase agreement in place to sell the hotel, which is being extended, to an American investor for £83 million. If the administrators achieve less than that, eyebrows will be raised as to why they were appointed by Nama in the first place.
Meanwhile, Glenkerrin’s legal action challenging the legality of Nama’s appointment of Grant Thornton as receivers to the Glenroyal Hotel and Leisure Centre in Maynooth, Co Kildare will continue later this year.
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