Bernard McNamara home sells

IT HAS SPENT seven months on the market but Nama has finally sold developer Bernard McNamara’s seven-bedroom Edwardian-style house on Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4, for a price believed to be in the region of €10 million – €2.5 million shy of the asking price.

While agent Sherry FitzGerald won’t confirm the price of 22 Ailesbury Road, it says it is “very satisfied with the outcome”.

Sherry FitzGerald is also tight-lipped about the identity of the buyer, however a family member of JP McManus is believed to have been one of the interested parties.

McNamara built the Ballsbridge mansion in the 1990s when he demolished the previous house which stands on over an acre. He bought the house next door, and used part of its gardens to enlarge his own grounds, before selling it. The house has five reception rooms and an indoor swimming pool which can be transformed into a dance floor.

Meanwhile Nama is selling two graffiti-daubed derelict mews houses off Ailesbury Road also owned by Bernard McNamara and carrying a price tag of €800,000 each.

The mews houses are 14A and 16A Ailesbury Road which occupy large sites to the rear of 14 and 16 Ailesbury Road and need extensive refurbishment. McNamara acquired these mews sites but didn’t own the main houses attached to them. Number 14, a six-bed semi with 420sq m (4,500sq ft) is being sold by Nama through Sherry FitzGerald for €4.25 million and was owned by solicitor and developer Noel Smyth.

Number 14A is on .33 of an acre while 16A Ailesbury Road is on .22 of an acre. Simon Ensor of Sherry Fitz-Gerald says he has received over 35 enquiries about the mews houses.