The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) is this week due to confirm the sale of its extensive headquarters and an office investment on St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2. The properties are believed to have made in the region of €30 million, well ahead of the guide price of €20 million issued by Douglas Newman Good.
The strong price will hardly come as a surprise given the shortage of commercial properties for sale in Dublin and the fact that there were about 10 private investors chasing the portfolio.
DNG said yesterday it was not yet in a position to comment on the sale.
Apart from the two four-storey over basement buildings which it has been using as offices and a club for many years, the IBOA portfolio included a modern office building developed in 1981 behind the facade of a 19th century church.
The office space extends to 1,817sq m (19,558sq ft) and is rented by the Department of Justice under a short term lease at €700,000 per annum. There are 19 on-site car parking spaces. The lease is held by the former Smurfit Paribas Bank which was taken over by Anglo-Irish Bank.
The former Methodist Church is one of the landmark buildings on St Stephen's Green and adjoins a residential building with four self-contained apartments.The bank officials bought the offices and the apartments from the Doyle Hotel Group in 1999 for just over £7 million (€8.89 million).
Also sold were numbers 92 and 93 St Stephen's Green which have a combined floor area of 838sq m (9,020sq ft). The buildings are interconnected at first, second and third floor levels while the ground floor has an arched entrance to 15 car parking spaces at the rear.
The IBOA is now to move to a newly completed office building, Le Hulle House, at Stephen Street Upper, Dublin 8, which it has bought from agents Finnegan Menton for €14 million.
