Senior figures from the worlds of business, medicine and the legal professions were among the investors who sold a south Dublin housing site for more than €85 million just four years after they bought the land for €31.75 million.
The investors in the site at the Grange, near Galloping Green, Stillorgan, included the former head of the drug group, Elan, Mr Donal Geaney, who is chairman of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and the Irish Aviation Authority. Others included the senior Davy stockbroker, Mr Kyran McLaughlin, and the Master of Holles Street hospital, Dr Declan Keane.
They were part of a consortium led by the financier, Mr Derek Quinlan, who acquired the 11.3-acre site in 2000 and sold it a fortnight ago for the highest price yet realised for a development site in Dublin.
Mr Quinlan is a former Revenue official, best known for leading the consortium of Irish investors who bought the Savoy Hotel group in London earlier this year. He was also the lead investor in the Four Seasons Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin. He built his reputation by devising schemes for high-net-worth individuals to invest in property developments that benefited from tax incentives. The land at Galloping Green was sold to the Kildare building firm, Glenkerrin Homes, a fortnight ago, only weeks after An Bord Pleanála gave planning permission for 478 apartments, a nursing home, offices, a creche and shops.
While Quinlan Private has declined to reveal who was in the consortium, records lodged in the Registry of Deeds indicate that 17 individuals and one company have been party to three mortgages taken out on the property since 2001. In addition to Mr Quinlan, those named in mortgage documentation include Mr Geaney's former Elan colleague, Mr Seamus Mulligan; the founder of the Irish Express Cargo logistics and transport business, Mr Finn O'Sullivan; the chartered surveyor, Mr Brendan O'Mara; and Mr Paul Anderson, of the Dublin Cinema Group.
The Brooklawn Property Holding Company was party to one of the mortgages. The firm is linked to the construction firm, G&K Crampton, whose joint managing director, Mr David Crampton, was listed as a party to two of the mortgage records.
