Buyer within weeks for Anglo Docklands carcass to finish it
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Nama close to sealing deal to sell off Anglo’s unfinished Docklands :
Sunday October 23 2011
THE hulking carcass of Anglo Irish Bank’s unfinished headquarters in the Dublin Docklands may be close to changing hands.Sources have indicated that US bank BNY Mellon and five other parties are vying to buy the skeleton building from Nama, with a deal expected to be announced in coming weeks.
The former Anglo HQ was developed by developer Liam Carroll but work on the building stopped abruptly when rival developers challenged its legality. Nama subsequently took control of the building when the economy collapsed.
The Central Bank has also expressed an interest in moving operations to the site.
Property sources have estimated that the partially finished structure could change hands for €5m, but that upwards of €30m will have to be spent to finish off the building works.
The concrete hulk of the building has become a potent symbol of Ireland’s property and financial collapse over the past three years, with pictures of it appearing in international TV programmes and magazine articles.
Originally, Anglo provided the funding for the development to Mr Carroll’s company, North Quay Investments, and was to rent part of the development as its intended new headquarters.
Hopefully BNY Mellon and the Central Bank can share the building. I know the Central Bank would like a building to themselves but if they’re retaining their Dame Street block then they probably won’t need all of the erstwhile-planned Anglo HQ. There should be enough room for both of them in the place. It’s good to see this sort of interest expressed in office in Dublin. I feel that the long winter in construction activity in Dublin should come to an end, at least around the Docklands area. Several large office blocks planned for this area have been put on ice due to the downturn (as well as the residential Point Watchtower). Given that Ireland remains an attractive place for international investors like Google, facebook, BNY Mellon, Hedgeserv etc. and that the Docklands is an ideal place for these companies to locate, it makes sense for a healthy pipeline of high-quality office development should be taking place. Moreover, the Watchtower should also be developed to provide accommodation for the staff of these companies – Google has been a godsend for the property owners of Beggar’s Bush since it has provided hundreds of affluent young tenants. The Watchtower could become part of this and provide living space for the people working in the Docklands area.
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