Almost three months after turning down an offer of almost £6 million for five large Georgian houses at Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group has put them back on the market through agents Druker Fanning and Partners. Last April, An Bord Pleanala overruled a decision by Dublin Corporation granting planning permission for a four-storey hotel with 140 bedrooms. The plan would have involved the demolition of an unlisted mews office building at Adelaide Road/Leeson Place and the construction of a four-storey with attic over basement extension to accommodate a swimming-pool, gymnasium and 145 car-parking spaces. When the buildings went to tender last November, they attracted strong interest from developers because of their high-profile location and the scarcity of development opportunities in the city. Although pleased with the tenders, the Fitzpatrick group withdrew them until it had reappraised the potential of the site. The company has obviously come to the conclusion that it would experience further difficulties in securing permission for a 140bedroom four-star hotel on the site with an equal number of car-parking spaces.

The five building are for sale by private treaty. Whoever buys them may well opt for a mixture of offices and apartments because of the huge demand for both facilities.

Fitzpatricks paid £3.8 million for the buildings in April, 1996. Three of them were previously occupied by Ansbacher Bank and the other two were rented by Frank Glennon insurance brokers.