A site of over four-fifths of an acre, with one of the few remaining frontages on to the Liffey in the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) area, has been brought to the market by agents Hamilton Osborne King. It is to be sold by tender, and has a guide of around £8 million. The site is in the Grand Canal Harbour area, at Sir John Rogerson's Quay, which is now undergoing major redevelopment. This area now benefits from fast-track planning procedures which will be available through the DDDA.
Under these procedures, the Authority is preparing a planning scheme for the area which will give details of the type, form and scale of development permitted.
The agents point out that it will be possible to develop the site in compliance with the planning scheme without the necessity for a planning application. The DDDA will be in a position to grant these planning permissions from October of this year. In the interim it will examine development proposals in advance.
The site is currently used by Butlers Irish Chocolates, which is relocating to a larger new facility in the west of the city. Butlers bought the factory at Sir John Rogerson's Quay about five years ago.
The site's prime position overlooks the Liffey at the corner of Sir John Rogerson's Quay and Benson Street in Dublin 2. It extends to approximately 0.84 acres. Stephen Cassidy of Hamilton Osborne King points out that the site will also have frontage to a public park to will be developed by the DDDA to the rear of the property.
According to Mr Cassidy, the site is ideally suited for a mixed-use office and residential development. A detailed feasibility study has been prepared by Anthony Reddy Architects and shows a development containing about 63,000 sq ft of office and commercial accommodation together with 51 apartments.
The site is situated adjacent to the Dunloe Ewart site, where a planning application has been lodged for a mixed use development comprising approximately 230 apartments and 32,000 sq m of commercial space. Nearby is Grand Canal Harbour, a new development currently underway on a site of 9.7 hectares.
This development, which is being promoted by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, will comprise a new city district with office, residential and leisure accommodation centred on the River Liffey and the Grand Canal Docks.
The DDDA recently launched the first site on this development and is currently seeking proposals from end users or developers with tenants to occupy the building. Unlike the site being marketed by the DDDA, the Butlers Chocolates site does not need an occupier at this stage and is therefore likely to be of interest to a wide range of developers.
The price being quoted reflects levels set earlier this year with the sale of the 1.63-acre Eircom site at Ringsend by the same agents - it sold for around £10 million per acre. Stephen Cassidy of Hamilton Osborne King, who was responsible for the Eircom sale, is also handling the sale of the Butlers site.
