The Earl of Kildare Hotel on the corner of Nassau and Kildare streets will probably be redeveloped for a mix of retail, offices and apartments, writes Jack Fagan

One of the best available redevelopment sites in Dublin's south inner city comes on the market today with the sale of the extensive Earl of Kildare Hotel at the junction of Nassau Street and Kildare Street. It traded up to 1994 as Powers Hotel and overlooks the grounds of Trinity College.

Paul Collins of CB Richard Ellis is quoting over €17 million for the 33-bedroom hotel which is based in five interconnecting four and five-storey over basement buildings. It goes for sale by tender on April 19th.

The vendor is Pat Leneghan, who also owns Sarah Cullen's bar and restaurant in Rathfarnham and The Palace nightclub in Navan. With Jurys Doyle closing five larger and more prestigious hotels in Dublin this year because of tight profit margins and the high value of the sites, there is little likelihood that the Earl of Kildare will continue to function as a hotel because of its limited potential, even if substantial funds are spent on upgrading it.

Its proximity to both Grafton Street, and more particularly Nassau Street, where the traders include Kilkenny Design, Blarney Woollen Mills and House of Ireland, will inevitably mean that the site will be redeveloped for retail outlets at street level with probably offices overhead.

While new office space in this location would easily rent at over €592 per sq m (€55 per sq ft) a developer may be tempted to include some apartments which could possibly sell at up to €16,146 per sq m (€1,500 per sq ft), given its superb city centre location.

The hotel stands on a site of 650sq m (6,997sq ft) though the buildings have a floor area of only 2,255sq m (24,725sq ft) due to the fact that a large part of the hotel at the rear is single storey.

There is clearly scope to opt for a high-rise development at the rear, even if the planners insist that the present heights are maintained along both Nassau Street and Kildare Street. One of the five buildings, 2 Nassau Street, is listed.

The present zoning for the site allows for city centre facilities including retail, offices, hotel and nightclub and residential.

The hotel was bought in 1994 from property investor Gerry O'Reilly who had paid £820,000 (€1.04 million) for it.