Former Jurys Hotel confirmed as site for €641m new US embassy

The US embassy has confirmed that it is within 60 days of closing a deal on the purchase of the old Jurys Hotel site in Ballsbridge. It plans to spend close to $700 million (€641 million) on building a new embassy on the site.

The US state department’s bureau of overseas buildings operations notified US Congress last month that it intends to buy the former hotel for $171 million, according to reports by Associated Press.

Across the road from the US embassy’s current location on Elgin Road in Ballsbridge, the 4.2-acre site was formerly the Jurys Hotel, and later the Ballsbridge Hotel.

The site was sold with the adjoining Berkeley Court to developer Seán Dunne for a record €240 million in 2005. Developer Joe O’Reilly’s Chartered Land bought the hotels from Mr Dunne’s lender, Ulster Bank, in 2015 for €170 million.

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The Irish Times reported in 2021 that US diplomats were closing in on the former hotel as a new embassy base, having agreed to purchase the site from Chartered Land if Dublin City Council agreed to rezone it for office use.

The US embassy had been searching for a new location for more than a decade, having outgrown the Elgin Road building. In a statement on Tuesday, US ambassador to Ireland, Claire Cronin, said the acquisition of a site for the new embassy was a “significant milestone”.

“We happily have outgrown our current historic home, and investment in a new building represents both the extraordinary US-Irish bond of today and the potential tomorrow brings. As we continue to deepen and expand our ties on multiple levels, I hope the new embassy will become a beacon for future generations who will seek to build on the promise of a prosperous US-Irish relationship,” she said.

The US embassy said Chartered Land would demolish the existing hotel building following the closing of the purchase. Once the acquisition is complete, the design, planning and construction process for the new embassy building will begin.

The deal between the US embassy and Chartered Land was brokered by Savills Ireland.

The US state department’s notice to Congress outlined that total costs to purchase the site and design, build and furnish the new embassy building would reach $688.8 million.

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The embassy said diplomatic activities would continue in the current Elgin Road building until the new embassy was completed.

It added that the Elgin Road base, built in the early 1960s and designed by American architect John M Johansen, was an “architectural icon” and that the bureau of overseas buildings operations and the embassy would “work closely with local partners to ensure that a suitable plan for the site is developed once the embassy is relocated”.

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