Jurys Doyle is understood to have selected Sean Dunne as the preferred bidder for the site of the Berkeley Court Hotel in Ballsbridge.
The decision to sell the site to Mr Dunne will leave the developer in control of all seven acres currently occupied by Jurys in Ballsbridge.
He is also expected to bid for the adjoining veterinary college site, which is being sold by the Office of Public Works at the end of this month.
A spokesman for Mr Dunne said last night that the developer had not yet been informed about the site. A spokeswoman for Jurys said meanwhile that "nothing is signed, sealed and delivered", and that "various discussions" continued to take place.
Mr Dunne was among at least seven parties to submit bids for the Berkeley Court site last week. At that stage, the hotel group said it was "very happy with the number of tenders".
Mr Dunne is a natural buyer for the 2.16-acre Berkeley Court site because he already controls the adjoining Jurys Ballsbridge site.
He paid €260 million for this property at the end of last month.
In winning the Berkeley Court site, the developer will have beaten off competition from other wealthy developers including Paddy Kelly.
Other developers mentioned by market sources in connection with bids include Frank Gormley of Howard Holdings and Ray Grehan of Glenkerrin Homes.
The price to be paid for the site has not yet been disclosed, but property experts say it will be at least €100 million.
This would mean the Berkeley Court property would fetch about €47 million per acre. Mr Dunne paid €54 million per acre for the adjoining Jurys Ballsbridge site.
He is expected to build high-class apartments on the property.
The developer's position on Jurys was complicated until last week by the 28 per cent stake he had built up in the group over the summer.
He was said for some time to be mulling a takeover bid on his own behalf, but has since moved back from any such deal.
Last week he said he had chosen instead to sell his shares to JDH, the Doyle family-led consortium that is close to finalising its own take-private of Jurys.
The first deadline for acceptances for JDH's €18.90 bid fell yesterday and the consortium had last night secured support in respect of more than 80 per cent of Jurys shares.
This means it can now move to compulsorily acquire the remaining 20 per cent. A spokesman for JDH confirmed last night that the group would indeed take this step.
For now, however, JDH is expected to extend the deadline for acceptances of its offer until next Wednesday, November 23rd, at least.
After proceeding with the Berkeley Court sale, JDH is expected to put its Montrose Hotel on the market.
The Montrose, situated on the Stillorgan Road in south Dublin, is unlikely to attract a valuation similar to the Ballsbridge properties and could even be sold as a going concern.
