BEN DUNNE used to be known as Ireland's retail king. While Big Ben has moved on to other things, the title has well and truly been seized by the Co Longford developer Joe O'Reilly who will control five of the largest shopping facilities in the Dublin area - the Ilac Centre, Dundrum Town Centre, the Pavilions in Swords, a new shopping centre at Adamstown and the spectacular €1.2 billion mixed-use scheme unveiled this week to be known as Dublin Central.
O'Reilly, in his early forties, will be running building projects at all five centres over the next few years and, by the time all the work is completed, he will be managing 354,000sq m (3.8 million sq ft) of shopping space.
And if that is not enough to keep him busy, he will also be sprearheading the development of the new town at Adamstown for 10,000 residents. In between time he will be building a few hundred houses on a 52-acre site at Woodbrook, another residential scheme off Brighton Road in Foxrock, as well as a spectacular country club at Killeen in Co Meath.
Back in the city, he will be keeping an eye on his huge office development at Grand Canal Harbour, and a landmark retail project at South King Street. Who says the property market has gone quiet?
Baptism of fire for new man in IAVI hotseat
ADDRESSING THE IAVI AGM on Monday, its new president, Edward Carey - a mere whippersnapper at only 39 - told members he felt a bit like Brian Cowen. "I get into the top job just when it looks like the party is over."
And it looks like it might be a baptism of fire for Carey with estate agents likely to be the target of criticism on a Prime Time programme due to be aired on May 1st which, among other things, is going to look at the subject of negative equity.
In his speech, Carey refuted charges that agents were guilty of hyping the market in the boom years and understating the extent of the current price fall, and said he hasn't enjoyed taking the flak for poor practices "from people who decided to set up shop in auctioneering without familiarising themselves with even the basics of ethical practice".
Carey - who lists hockey among his hobbies - was born in Enfield, Co Meath in 1968, and joined the IAVI in 1991. He spent a number of years working in the industry in Dublin before returning to work in the family practice in Enfield in 1993.
Not one to let the grass grow under his feet, in 2006 he was elected junior vice-president of the institute and his appointment as president makes him one of the youngest ever presidents of the institute.
Carey insisted that the market is "healthy" and that the fall in house prices since March 2007 is merely "a correction" and a "temporary blip" and said "allegations of a property crash" should be taken in context against huge cumulative increases since the early 1970s up to the market slowdown in March last year. He quoted increases of 3,175 per cent for second-hand homes since 1974 and 4,800 per cent for new homes since 1970.
Could he be protesting too much?
Buy new house and developer will rent out your old one
IT TAKES an accountant to figure out how people caught in the can't-sell-can't-buy trap could be transformed from disillusioned vendors to potential buyers.
Developer and former accountant to big builders Sebastian Devlin has put together a convincing sales pitch for his scheme, Roseville, in Bettystown in Co Meath.
His Woodgreen Builders is guaranteeing buyers two years rent on their existing homes when they purchase a four-bed house for €395,000. Woodgreen is promising to manage everything from arranging the finance for your new home in Roseville to managing the letting of your existing home. He will even foot the bills for tax advice. Now is your time, say Woodgreen, to buy "while house prices are at their lowest level in years and rent out your existing home at rock solid guaranteed rent for two whole years". This will give "the property market time to recover before you sell your existing house at a potentially far more advantageous time".
Four potential buyers are currently getting the homes vetted by Grimes Real Estate in advance of doing a deal, according to Devlin. The inspiration for the offer, he says, came from two buyers at Roseville who, frustrated at not being able to sell, switched their savings into property and secured two properties - one to live in and one to rent. One couple, says Devlin, secured two houses for a €223 lower outlay per month than the traditional approach of selling up before buying.
Devlin, who is one of the developers behind the swish D4 Shrewsbury Square, knows his sums. He was accountant to the likes of the Cosgraves, Deanes and Monaghans for years before becoming a developer himself.
Super wealthy likely to find that property doesn't come cheap
THE SUPER wealthy are weathering the credit crunch better than the rest of us, according to a new report by Citi Private Bank and Knight Frank. It shows that the ranks of the very rich across the world grew to a record eight million in 2007, and shows no signs of shrinking despite economic woes in the US and the UK. There was a 4.5 per cent rise last year in so called "high-net worth" individuals - those with investable assets of more than $1 million (€629,000).
Growth was particularly strong among the wealthy in emerging markets of India, China, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia and Russia - each adding thousands of wealthy residents on the back of the commodities boom.
However, having a million to invest doesn't cut a lot of ice in the world's most expensive property markets, judging by a table published in the FT this week: €1 million will just about get you a small apartment in the better parts of London, though in Monaco you are talking about a studio, and the same for Courcheval in the French Alps. In Moscow €1 million will buy a one-bed, while in Venice it will stretch to a three-bedroom apartment in the city centre, while in the centre of Paris or Syndey you could expect to get a comfortable two-bed for the same money.
Dublin isn't mentioned on the table, though these days you'll get a lot more for your €1 million in the capital, with prices back by an estimated 15 per cent in the last 12 months.
Receptions back in vogue to launch new offices
WHILE THE Dublin office market has remained the single most buoyant sector to date, there could be trouble down the line. Developers with office blocks lying vacant are getting ready for a bit of competition for the remaining tenants looking for space. A number of high profile buildings are nearing completion and printers are busy producing elaborate brochures to publicise them.
To complete the marketing effort, the letting agents have resurrected the idea of holding smart formal receptions to launch the blocks, a practice normally associated with tougher times. Derek Quinlan was the first to kick off last week when he launched The Observatory - a swish new office block at Sir John Rogerson's Quay in the busy south docks area.
Other developers have started sending out similar invitations and, dare we say it, people have time on their hands to attend. Quinlan hired Grand Slam-winning Welsh rugby coach Warren Gatland and comedian Karl Spain to entertain about 140 office specialists on the top floor of the waterfront building. They even had scantily clad models on hand for photo ops. The party organisers said that they are booked up until mid-June for similar events.
ON THE MOVE
SAVILLS HOK has made three senior appointments. Helen Moore has been appointed director of property management and Glenn Cran has been appointed associate director within the property management division. Jonathan Preston, meanwhile, has been promoted to head of retail warehousing.
This brings to 36 the number of people working in this department. The three are pictured above with Angus Potterton, managing director of Savills HOK.
Meanwhile, McNally Handy has announced that Colette Keegan and Tom Kane have both been made associate directors of the firm.
