Indians buy Ballsbridge house for office use

Foreign governments are taking advantage of the crash in prime Dublin house prices to acquire substantial houses at knock-down prices

THE INDIAN government has purchased a house at 69 Merrion Road in Ballsbridge for a figure thought to be around €4.75 million.

The Victorian house, home of the late Judge Dermot Kinlen, has been purchased to convert into offices, rather than a residence for the ambassador or his staff.

The Indians currently have an impressive embassy residence in Foxrock, India House in Knocksinna, a listed Art Deco style building, but this is not in use at the moment since, according to a source close to the embassy, it needs considerable refurbishment and maintenance.

The Indian ambassador, PS Raghaven, is living in a rented house in Blackrock, owned by businessman David McKenna, who was one of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern's "dig-out" friends. The 743sq m (8,000sq ft) modern house is costing them around €8,000 per month. The house had been for sale earlier this year at €7.5 million.

The Merrion Road house, which is close to the entrance of Wanderers Rugby Club, came on the market earlier this year through Lisney with an AMV of €7.25 million. However, the two-storey over basement house, which has an annex with office use, failed to sell at auction and lingered on the market through the summer before negotiations with the Indian delegation began.

The Indian embassy currently works out of offices in a house on Leeson Park which it has now outgrown.

It's understood that the plan is to convert 69 Merrion Road into offices, subject to the necessary planning permission.

If they succeed in persuading the planners to convert the house to full office use, it would obviously create a precedent on a road which is almost entirely residential.

Residents will be particularly taken aback by the embassy's ambition to secure planning permission for new car-parking spaces underneath the house, something that has probably never been attempted before in one of the main precincts of the city.

The present crash in the Dublin housing market enables cash-rich investors, such as foreign governments, to buy substantial houses for knock-down prices.

A number of embassies have been house-hunting in Dublin over the last year, as prices have softened in the embassy belt. However, few transactions have resulted as dealing with embassy staff generally involves protracted negotiations with their governments overseas.

The Canadian government recently managed to acquire a new embassy residence on Oakley Road in Ranelagh, which it exchanged for its nine-acre property in Killiney in a deal with property developer Michael Roden.