Irish League of Credit Unions seeks €9.5m for Dublin headquarter offices

33-41 Lower Mount Street offers scope for refurbishment or residential redevelopment subject to planning permission

Agent Knight Frank is guiding a price of €9.5 million for 33-41 Lower Mount Street, an office building with potential for refurbishment or redevelopment. The property, a five-storey over-basement block of 22,942sq ft with 39 car-parking spaces, occupies a prime Dublin 2 location between the traditional central business district and the entry point to the city’s so-called Silicon Docks on nearby Grand Canal Street.

33-41 Lower Mount Street is home to the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) while the OPW occupies 6,500sq ft of the building’s office accommodation and six car-parking spaces under a four-year, nine-month lease until January 2024. The proposed sale of the property comes as part of the ILCU’s ongoing transformation of its activities. This process includes a planned move to a new location to enable future growth and development of its business.

The ILCU’s current building was refurbished and extended in the late 1990s and would provide scope, according to the selling agent, for an incoming purchaser to either refurbish and extend the existing space further or to carry out a full redevelopment, subject to planning permission.

The property is zoned Objective Z10 (Inner Suburban and Inner City Sustainable Mixed-Uses) under the Dublin City Development Plan 2022 – 2028, the purpose of which is “to consolidate and facilitate the development of inner-city and inner-suburban sites for mixed-uses”. This mixed zoning should facilitate commercial and/or residential development.

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Henry J Lyons Architects have prepared a detailed feasibility study for the site. The study focuses on two options, the first of which provides for a refurbishment and extension of the existing building while the second focuses on a demolition and complete redevelopment of the site.

The redevelopment option suggests there is scope for an entire new-build resulting in an almost doubling of the existing structure’s net internal area to about 43,863sq ft. The proposed design includes 18m floor depths with modern floor-to-ceiling heights. The new building height is marginally higher than the existing property with an increase of 3.5m (11.5ft). Shower and changing facilities would be provided at basement level together with bike parking and a small number of car-parking spaces. The refurbishment option also extends the existing floor plate and increases the floor depth on the first, second and third floors from 12m to 16m (39.4ft to 52.5ft). The fourth-floor depth has also been increased. The study provides for a new core with the entrance to be positioned at street level and the main ground floor remaining at the existing level resulting in a total area of about 33,530sq ft.

Further information on the sale can be obtained from Declan O’Reilly, Evan Lonergan or Finín O’Driscoll at Knight Frank. Registrations for the data room for the sale can be made at 33-41-lowermountstreet.com.

Ronald Quinlan

Ronald Quinlan

Ronald Quinlan is Property Editor of The Irish Times