€23m price tag on block owned by former Anglo lender

A city centre retail, office and residential building – part-owned by a former director of the disgraced Anglo Irish Bank – has been put on the market with a €23 million price tag.

Geata na Cathrach at the Fairgreen, which houses the Revenue offices and Ulster Bank among others, is owned by Tom Browne, the former Head of Irish Lending at Anglo, along with John Hughes, a former Head of Business Banking with AIB in Eyre Square.

The duo purchased what was originally known as the ‘Castlehope’ building – a massive 126,000 square foot block adjacent to the Radisson Blu Hotel – in 2008.

It was initially built by developers Bernard McNamara, Christ Hirst and Jerry O’Reilly.

The site stretches from beside the WebWorks building to the Radisson and includes Exchange House and Geata na Cathrach.

It includes 11 two-bed apartments, Loam restaurant, Atlantic Language School, Ulster Bank and Revenue. Tenants are not affected.

Currently, it is generating rent of more than €1.6 million per annum, and selling agents DTZ Sherry Fitzgerald have attached a €23m price tag.

Also for sale is 48,000 sq ft of office space in the Dockgate building at the Docks – which the two former bankers also own – with a price tag of €9m.

Mr Browne left Anglo in 2008 on a basic salary of €455,000 with an €800,000 bonus. Last year, he secured an extension of time on plans for a ‘facelift’ to the Castlehope development until 2019.

“Funding for the project could not be sourced to commence the development during the duration of the [original] permission due to the prevailing economic conditions and associated lending restrictions.

“The funding issue arose primarily as a function of the lack of a permanent occupier of the relevant commercial floor space and the poor state of the commercial sector during the financial crisis since 2008.

“However, having regard to the ‘bottoming out’ of the recession, [Mr Browne] is confident that the proposed development, which constitutes the provision of high quality alterations to an existing development, will be attractive to the market and achieve the required funding to implement the development in the coming years,” the application for more time read.