A joint bid by developers Bernard McNamara and Castlethorn Construction has been chosen to redevelop the St Michael’s flat complex in Inchicore under a public-private partnership scheme.
A joint bid by developers Bernard McNamara and Castlethorn Construction has been chosen to redevelop the St Michael’s flat complex in Inchicore under a public-private partnership scheme. A formal announcement of their status as preferred developers is expected to be made in the coming weeks.
The 14-acre estate is located in the middle of Inchicore, an area that has become increasingly popular with first-time buyers because of its proximity to the city centre. The site is also located near the Luas line between Connolly Station and Tallaght, and a sizeable amount of the flats there are boarded up.
It will now be belatedly demolished, six years after the regeneration of the estate was first announced in 2001 with work due to be completed last year. At that stage, the city council had already been working on the plan for three years.
In 2005, it was announced that 575 housing units would be built on the estate including 150 local authority housing units, 70 affordable housing units and 355 private dwellings.
City councillors had previously rejected their own officials plans for the estate, which was constructed in the 1970s.
The McNamara-Castlethorn partnership also won the €180 million public private partnership tender last year to redevelop O’Devaney Gardens on the North Circular Road near the Phoenix Park. Built in the 1950s, the flats are to be demolished and turned into 820 homes on a 16-acre site with a mix of social, affordable and private housing along with commercial, community and leisure facilities.
Meanwhile, the closing date to request qualifications for the redevelopment of the 9.5-acre St Teresa’s Gardens flat complex off the South Circular Road in Dublin 8 has now passed. The preferred bidder is expected to be announced in early September. Dublin City Council has requested the provision of 300 social and affordable homes, community facilities and a public park.
Dublin City Council is involved in a number of other planned public-private partnerships to redevelop flat complexes around the street, including Dominick Street and near Croke Park.
Bernard McNamara’s construction company, Michael McNamara & Co, is one of the largest in the country. He moved into property development, initially because of the tax breaks on offer, and now owns a substantial portfolio, large parts of which have redevelopment potential.
In recent months, McNamara has been a member of consortiums that acquired the South Wharf site in Ringsend for more than €100 million, Carrisbrook House in Ballsbridge, and the Allianz building on Burlington Road in Ballsbridge. His other business interests include a stake in Select Retail Holdings which owns Superquinn, a number of hotels, and a stake in Champion Sports.
Castlethorn Construction is an extremely profitable development company which is currently developing 10,000 residential units at Adamstown in west Dublin and a sizeable residential and commercial development at Rathborne in Dublin 15. The firm also owns the Dundrum town centre.
Sunday Business Post
2007
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