Portobello House and site make over €10m

A well positioned redevelopment site and a prominent Georgian house beside Portobello Harbour, off Lower Rathmines Road and Richmond Road, in Dublin 8, has been acquired for over €10 million by one of Dublin's leading property developers, the MKN Property Group.

In another sign of the recovery under way in the market, almost 100 parties viewed the properties when they were offered for sale through Robert Corrigan and Peter Browne of Brown Corrigan Chartered Surveyors.

The sale was advanced by way of “best and final bids” which attracted more than a dozen written offers from bidders including housebuilders, hotel operators, investors and overseas companies providing student accommodation.

Sean McKeon, head of MKN, said the group would be considering a variety of uses for the property because of its superb location and development potential.

Portobello House, one of the best known Georgian houses in the city, is presently in educational use and, along with an adjoining building, is producing a rent roll of €150,000 per annum. A site of 0.21 of an acre at the rear of the house had planning permission for about 1,858sq m (20,000sq ft) of retail and office buildings along with 15 car-parking spaces but this has since lapsed. Portobello House was home to the painter Jack B Yeats and an assembly point for a group of 1916 rebels.

MKN will have to decide whether to redevelop Harbour House, a modern three and four-storey red brick building on the edge of the Grand Canal, with an overall floor area of 2,476sq m (26,650sq ft).

Though planning permission exists for a medical centre extending to 3,877sq m (41,750 sq ft) on an adjoining site, it is thought unlikely that MKN will proceed with that plan.

Both properties were sold on behalf of Ray Kearns, founder of the Institute of Education, one of the largest private secondary schools in Ireland.