THE PHARMACEUTICAL Society of Ireland is to sell off two buildings in Dublin 4, including a large property on Shrewsbury Road.
The society is tendering for someone to handle the sales, which the society is probably hoping will realise well in excess of €25 million, though one property source said the market is very difficult to read at present.
As well as the Shrewsbury Road property, the society is also going to put 37 Northumberland Road up for sale. It will use at least part of the proceeds to buy new office accommodation.
Number 18 Shrewsbury Road is adjacent to the former Chester Beatty Library, which is now owned by Galway developer Frank O'Malley and which has been the subject of ongoing attempts to secure planning permission since the late 1990s.
In 1998, the society sold less than half an acre at number 18 to Dublin businessman Niall O'Farrell, of the dress hire company Blacktie, for £3.6 million. Two detached houses now stand on the site, a rare development on a street famous for resisting planning applications.
Mr O'Farrell lives in one, while the developer Sean Dunne lives in the other.
Number 18 is a two-storey building with a two-storey extension to the rear that comprises two self-contained apartments. The main building is considered one of the better buildings on the road. The entire site is 0.86 acres.
It has mature gardens, a gravelled car park, a detached gate lodge and a disused building to the rear. The Shrewsbury Road property is currently used for official and residential purposes.
Another house on the road, belonging to businessman Paul Coulson, is currently for sale for €27.5 million.
The house stands on an 0.58 acre site. Another house again, Walford, which was bought for €58 million in 2005, is believed to have quietly returned to the market, with an asking price of €75 million.
On nearby Ailesbury Road, the French government failed to sell its embassy residence, in a tender process in which it was seeking €50 million. The Northumberland Road property is currently being used as office accommodation. It is a two storey over garden level semi-detached Edwardian house with a single storey over garden level return.
