Shadowy, sinister figures held project to ransom, says Gilmartin

Property developer Mr Tom Gilmartin has blamed "shadowy, sinister figures" for holding his Bachelor's Walk development "to ransom" by buying properties he had already agreed to purchase.

At the time, Mr Gilmartin and his English partners, Arlington Securities, were buying properties on a site bounded by Bachelor's Walk and Abbey Street to demolish them and build a large shopping centre and bus station.

Half the site was designated for urban renewal tax incentives and the promoters were looking to have these incentives extended to the entire area.

However, according to Mr Gilmartin, the project ran into difficulties in 1988, in spite of a Government decision to extend the tax incentives. "Shadowy figures" appeared to buy the properties Arlington was planning to purchase, and these people then tried to sell these properties to the company for an inflated price.

The object of this exercise was to "hold us to ransom", he told the tribunal yesterday, and this was what ultimately happened.

In January 1988, The Irish Times revealed the involvement of Arlington in the project; Mr Gilmartin said yesterday this sounded the "death knell" for his plans for Bachelor's Walk.

Publicity was the last thing he wanted, he said. This had nothing to do with "robbing poor people" who owned properties in the area, as had been alleged recently in the media.

At the time, Mr Gilmartin warned Arlington there would be a "strong backlash" if a compulsory purchase order was applied to the entire area.

Mr Gilmartin, who came up with the idea for the Bachelor's Walk project and acted as a consultant to Arlington, said his relationship with the company "wasn't the greatest" at this time because of the lack of progress. Arlington had decided not to purchase any further properties until the Government formally extended the tax incentives.

He considered the liaison with CIÉ and its plans for a bus station on the roof of the planned shopping centre "a total red herring". This had led the promoters up a "blind alley" and all it did was waste the time available.

His total investment in the project was between £100,000 and £200,000, he estimated, most of it paid in deposits. Arlington eventually bought out his interest in the site for £1.34 million and refunded the deposits.

Had it been built, the so-called Liffey Centre would have covered 600,000 square feet with parking space for 3,000 cars.