A Dublin businessman, Mr Niall O'Farrell of the dress hire company Blacktie, yesterday paid a record £3.6 million for a site of less than half an acre on Shrewsbury Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin. He is expected to seek planning permission to build two semi-detached houses on the site, which forms part of the grounds of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland.
The new owner is likely to spend about £1.5 million on two large semis, putting a cost of just over £2.5 million on each of them. Most large period houses on Shrewsbury Road are valued between £3 million and £5 million.
Agents for the British Foreign Office have been trying to acquire one of them for an embassy residence. Before yesterday's auction got under way in a packed Gunne Auctioneers showrooms, a spokeswoman for the Shrewsbury Residents' Association announced that it was objecting to the development of the site.
The intervention did not stop two of the residents from bidding for the property. One of them, Mr Paddy Kelly, opened the bidding at £1.5 million in the hope of acquiring the site for a single house. The second bid of £2 million came from Mr Farrell. The house was chased all the way up to £3.6 million.
Gunne originally quoted £750,000 for the 0.41 acre site but increased the guide price to £1.5 million because of the high level of interest. The site is along the entrance to the Chester Beatty Library, which is to come on the market next spring when its priceless collection of Oriental art is re-housed in Dublin Castle's Clock Tower.
