Developers eye potential €50m sale of Royal Liver Retail Park

Just over two years after it was sold for €25 million, the Royal Liver Park on Dublin’s Naas Road looks set for a potential return to the market at a new asking price of around €50 million.

But while the well-known retail park's owners, Allied Real Estate Group (AREG), are understood to be considering its sale, The Irish Times understands they are also currently weighing up a what one source described as a "credible forward-funding proposal" which would see them lead the delivery of a major residential scheme. Last July, AREG, which is headed up by Barina Property Group chief Adrian Langan and Cathal McGinley, secured planning permission from Dublin City Council for the development of 1,102 apartments on the site.

The proposed apartment development comprises 1,102 units – the vast majority of which will be aimed towards the private rented sector (PRS) market – distributed across nine blocks ranging from seven storeys upwards. The approved scheme also includes an 18-storey (77.6m/255ft) office building, as well as a 203-unit shared accommodation or co-living development.

In giving its approval for the project, Dublin City Council’s planning report said AREG’s proposal for the site would secure “the redevelopment of under-utilised urban land in a prime location strategically positioned beside a major transport node … and would be consistent with guidance which seeks to secure more compact and higher-density development in the wider city area”.

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While a move to sell the Royal Liver Retail Park for €50 million or more would see AREG doubling its money, the figure would still represent a significant discount on the €60 million price the scheme achieved when it was sold in 2005 to the Fitzwilliam Partnership, whose members included the Meath-based investor Willie Smyth. One of the first of its kind in Ireland, the Royal Liver Retail Park was developed originally in 1990 for the equivalent of €11.5 million.