Developer Johnny Ronan has secured the last remaining waterfront site in Dublin’s north Docklands for a figure in the region of €180m, Independent.ie can reveal.

The price being paid by Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) and partners Colony Capital represents a premium of up to 50pc on the €120m price joint agents Savills Ireland and Cushman & Wakefield had been guiding when they brought the 4.6 acre ‘Project Waterfront’ site holding to the market just over one month ago.

Located within the Dublin Docklands Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) next to the 3 Arena and the Point Village, the holding comprises two adjacent sites and comes with planning permission for 420 apartments and 300,216 sq ft (17,891 sq m) of offices distributed across four blocks.

The site’s potential could be far greater however according to feasibility studies which suggest the Government’s recently-revised planning guidelines could push the number of apartments to between 494 and 526 units. The commercial scheme was granted a ten-year planning permission in December 2017, while the residential scheme has a five-year permission, also granted in December 2017.

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The acquisition of the Project Waterfront portfolio is the second major coup for RGRE and Colony Capital in the Dublin Docklands in recent weeks. Independent.ie can reveal that RGRE has agreed heads of terms with Salesforce on a deal which will see the tech giant lease all 500,000 sq ft (46,184 sq m) of the office space RGRE is developing at nearby Spencer Dock.

Upon completion, the offices at Spencer Place will have the capacity to accommodate between 4,000 and 5,000 personnel. Salesforce currently employs 965 people at its EMEA headquarters in the Sandyford Business District (SBD) in south Dublin.

Salesforce’s new EMEA headquarters are set to be developed as part of a wider mixed-use scheme which will extend to 717,000 sq ft (66,599 sq m).

RGRE’s delivery of Spencer Place represents the culmination of the original Spencer Dock masterplan which saw the development of two million square feet of commercial and residential space including the Convention Centre Dublin, the Dublin headquarters of PwC, Credit Suisse International’s offices at Kilmore House and 620 apartments at Spencer Dock.

While Spencer Place is vast in terms of its physical scale, it accounts for just over half of the six acres RGRE currently controls at Spencer Dock.

Online Editors