Although Bank of New York Mellon and a company formed by former Liam Carroll employees called “Property Asset Management Enhancement Services” were reported to be in the running to buy it, it is the Central Bank of Ireland which is now understood to have purchased the former Anglo HQ shell on Dublin’s North Wall Quay. The price being paid by the Bank is not available but industry sources say that NAMA had been offered €10m last summer for the building by a party whose name was not publicly linked with the site, in a deal which would have required staple financing but which would have seen both the existing Anglo shell completed AND the completion of an adjacent building which has yet to be started. It is understood the Central Bank will now develop the shell on the existing site which will eventually bring together and house the mushrooming 1,500-strong workforce, presently sited across three main locations -its iconic HQ on Dame Street from where the Occupy protesters were removed last last month, Iveagh Court on Harcourt Street and an office building (pictured) in Spencer Dock.
Sources say that the Central Bank had been looking at other potential sites in central Dublinand the IFSC, in particular the Treasury Holdings Spencer Dock complex, but it is said that both the Department of Finance and NAMA arm-twisted the Bank into taking the Anglo HQ shell.
Neither the Central Bank or NAMA has commented on the sale, though the sale is expected to be confirmed by NAMA before Easter.
UPDATE: 26th March 2012. The Irish Independent reports today that NAMA has not “yet” “sealed” a deal with the Central Bank and the Central Bank says that no plans had been “formalised” for the Bank’s long-term accommodation plans. A spokesman for NAMA who on Friday told this blog that the Agency had no comment on the report, seemingly told the Independent “an online report yesterday that indicated agreement had been reached was incorrect”
UPDATE: 16th April, 2012. Bloomberg now reports that the CBI has agreed to buy the shell for €8m (USD 10m), though neither the CBI nor NAMA is commenting.
UPDATE: 31st May, 2012. NAMA has issued a statement to confirm that it has sold the Anglo HQ shell. NAMA says ” NAMA working with the Receivers had prioritised the sale of this asset for the past 18 months and had engaged with a number of interested parties. We are very happy now to have concluded the process and look forward to the Central Bank completing the building which will greatly enhance the whole landscape of the Dublin Docklands” . RTE reports that the purchase price was €7m.
UPDATE: 14th November, 2012. NAMA has today issued a statement confirming the contract for sale has at laaaast been signed. The statement says “The National Asset Management Agency welcomes the signing of contracts relating to the Central Bank of Ireland’s purchase of North Wall Quay, Dublin 1. The purchase and planned development of North Wall Quay, Dublin 1 is an important signal of improving sentiment and activity in the office market. The development of the North Wall Quay site is also important for the future development of adjoining lands within this key strategic location. “
Mushrooming workforce of 1,500? If you allow me, let us just say that Ireland has a population of 4 million. The US has a population of over 300 million. The “Central Bank” of the US, the Federal Reserve, has a grand total of just over 15,000 employees. In addition to its 12 branches, it also has a currency to look after and a few other fish to fry. I will not bore you with all the other responsibilities it has, like a rather large banking system, somewhat larger than Ireland. It also manges the dollar, the de facto, until now, world currency. And, who knows how many times it has bailed out the EU with repos. Can you please explain to me how a country with no currency of its own, a minuscule banking system, shrinking by the minute, an economy in free fall, requires such a large number of Central Bank employees?
http://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/annual-report/statistical-tables/2010-statistical-table13.htm
The bloody Banque de France has 13,000 employees..!
@NWL great “scoop”
“I read the newspapers with lively interest. It is seldom that they are absolutely, point-blank wrong. That is the popular belief, but those who are in the know can usually discern an embryo of truth, a little grit of fact, like the core of a pearl, round which have been deposited the delicate layers of ornament.”
― Evelyn Waugh, Scoop
Any sale in Ireland by NAMA,is welcomed,arms length naturally would be preferred.But,there should be no need to retain a new set of consultants.
Finishing the building is relatively straightforward and cost effective,it was designed for a “bank” and is shovel ready.Also,removes a blight from the landscape and will have positive impact on surrounding properties,where NAMA has interests.
There’s an allegory for the entire Irish boom, bust and bailout here.
In the boom, Anglo Irish, glutted from fraudulent lending commissions this building a palatial new headquarters and a monument to feckless greed. In the bust, the development is abandoned and left to rot for four years while the crisis continues. After this finally the Central Bank, now itself glutted with personnel from having to deal with the bailout–including many former Anglo managers–moves into the half rotted building to set the new foundation for the Irish financial services sector.
This is a poor new start for the Central Bank.
There has been a courtship ritual ongoing here for some time now between NAMA and the Central Bank. NAMA has been kicking enquiries to touch since midsummer 2011. The most recent being Bank Mellon, who were told to look elsewhere.
@WSTT, I am surprised that no-one seemingly pursued a high-end residential development on the site. Although North Wall Quay is a busy road, so also is the junction of roads in Knightsbridge in front of No 1 Hyde Park in London where an apartment will set you back over €6m. The Anglo shell site has the best views of the Liffey, is a stone’s throw from the National Convention Centre (much as 1 Hyde Park is a stone’s throw from Albert Hall on Kensington Gore). And Dublin seems to lack high-end apartments of 2,000 sq ft. And the area is set amongst an area of lucrative employment with the IFSC on its doorstep and north and south Docklands being bustling (relatively speaking).
I suppose the site is fulfilling its destiny though.
@NWL, You’d make a good developer!
@WSTT any idea if the site was foreclosed,cleaning up any unpaid subs.Anglo,should own all the drawings,plans,simple for the bank to finish this building,no reason to involve or retain new consultants.
It creates jobs,gets the building finished,not too much downside here,assuming the bank sticks to the “plan”.
The “math” does not work,it will be a long time before any spec. resi. development.Who,would finance it,NAMA ?
Here is one for sale,apply the price per sq.ft. and the above proposal would not pencil.
http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/residence-23-the-four-seasons-ballsbridge-dublin-4/1250578
@John, so nearly €500 psf sale asking price and €25,000 per annum service charge wouldn’t work – mathwise – on North Wall Quay? Yes the Four Seasons is reasonably specc’ed – I’ve seen far better – but still, and consider the corporate lettings in the heart of what is still a bustling – relatively speaking – area of Dublin. You have massive shoe-box development all over the place, but right in the heart of Docklands, what do you have at the high-end?
Stick a helipad on a pontoon in the Liffey plus moorings to develop pleasure boating at the mouth of the Liffey, develop the rear of the site into private parkland and underground car-park, provide concierge and services at ground floor level. 75 apartments at €1m a time and €2m per annum service charges. An existing structure with 200,000 sq ft that of course would need to be adapted but on offer for around €10m. And the maths on that wouldn’t work? No wonder we’re limping along.
@NWL 75 urban pioneers with 1,000,000 to spend on apartments ?
@John, if you had a good throwing arm, you could hit ten times 75 potential buyers with a stone from the site. I see that they are now referring to the area around Smithfield and The Four Courts as “Dublin’s Legal Quarter” but it seems the major law firms are actually down Docklands way, you have the IFSC on your doorstep, you have PwC in the next building along and you have a new Dublin on your doorstep in Docklands which is a world away from the Strumpet City of yore. And although it’s true that many parts of this economy are on its back, that’s not universally true at all, there is still massive wealth and incomes in sectors of the economy.
@JG, It was in receivership – part of Liam Carroll’s empire. There were (and still are) a lot of very expensive infrastructure issues. That fact put the vast majority of suitors off. Clancourt ran the rule over it and Sisk and Bennett Construction were prepared to give warranties in relation to the existing structure after examining it.
Very few could raise the development finance in this financial climate to fund it unless they had a tenant lined up. There were two obvious tenants – the Central Bank of Ireland and Bank Mellon New York. NAMA has been giving the “slow no” to anyone proposing the latter for months.
To the best of my knowledge, the top offer was received in mid 2011 and was from Connecticut based developers who (as NWL says) bid €10 million for the shell subject to staple financing from NAMA. They also committed to completing the proposed adjoining office block. NAMA rejected the bid on the basis that it was committed to the Central Bank.
@WSTT,thanks for that. Mellon picked up B of I’s highly regarded RE division,should be no brainier for them to find alternative !!!
@NWL you would have hit minimum of 50% pre sales for financing or JV.Developer, would have to be balance sheet strong,experienced with the product and solvent.Would, buyers tie up capital on the expectation that it gets built ?
No schools,transportation on the come,quality of life issues.Its highest and best use is bank headquarters,there are enough empty sites in the area, to spec. build resi.
@WSTT correction,the caffeine had not kicked in.It was State Street,not Mellon I was trying to reference,apoligies NWL.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/10/22/us-bank-of-ireland-idUSTRE69L3IN20101022
Sir Tony disagrees with the unnamed you!
‘No deal yet’ for NAMA and Central Bank on Anglo HQ
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/no-deal-yet-for-nama-and-central-bank-on-anglo-hq-3060912.html
@WGU01, the newspaper report says the deal has not been “sealed” “yet” and that the Central Bank has not yet “finalised” its accommodation plans. In most property transactions, there is delay between when the deal is struck to when the final paperwork is completed. This is a NAMA deal which will get an announcement – most don’t – so let’s see in a week or two.
Aye – they are being Jesuitical.
It’s more the journalistic nose-holding that struck me – it’s just funny how the Independent finds it odious at times to reference a source and other times it simply never does.
Yet they obviously read you regularly.
Weird corporate culture.
Ps – not sure what WordPress/Gravatar was doing with the post details – but hopefully it’s got the right one this time!
There are too many caveats in NAMA’s denial. And too many weasel words again. It could be denial is too strong a word in view of the ambivalence, maybe NAMA’s just selective about the reality it accepts. Time will soon lead to a full establishment of the truth.
Congratulations NWL. Spot on! The rest only catching up now. Makes you wonder though if the Independent is NAMA’s “bum” boy or just plain gullible.
Congrats NWL reading the report in Bloomberg,the statement/anecdote from McDonagh is ludicrous and self serving,does he talk to taxi drivers ?
“Everybody who comes to Dublin to see us wants to see the Anglo Irish Bank
building; they ask the taxis to bring them around,” he said. “
So the senior people from international hedge and opportunity funds,have nothing better to do that have ‘taxi’ drivers take them on ‘tours’.Or is he trying to justify achieving a ridiculous low price for this building/site with his tall tales from taxi drivers.
More importantly,why did NAMA not finish it and rent it then sell it,ahh that’s called ASSET MANAGEMENT,a dirty word inside NAMA these days.
@John, isn’t “well I was speaking to the taxi driver and he said” the new way of ingratiating you with your audience. Klaus Masuch, our outgoing ECB voivod thought so, though happily we had Vincent Browne on hand to make fun of him, and ask all sorts of questions from the perspective of what the taxi driver said!
@NWL I despair at times reading this nonsense from McDonagh,so senior directors of acquisitions at major international RE firms are going on taxi driver tours !
Why did NAMA not explore a JV here,then facilate a sale/leaseback.
Who funds the central bank and who will fund finishing the building ?
@John, by the way, we did have a back-and-forth about development uses for the site. I see that Garrett Kelleher’s 3,280 sq ft apartment overlooking O’Connell Bridge which was reported in an Independent advertorial a fortnight ago
http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/property-mortgages/knockdown-4m-dublin-city-centre-penthouse-now-on-sale-with-86pc-discount-at-575k-3070132.html
has an asking price of €575,000. The DAFT.ie advertisement is here
http://www.daft.ie/searchsale.daft?id=645155
The Hooke and McDonald listing is here
http://www.hookemacdonald.ie/show-prop.aspx?id=518343
And I see the price has in the past been set at €550,000 which suggests that an upmarket apartment riverside development might not be feasible. But having said that, the standard of design and use of space in the 3,280 sq ft apartment looks pretty poor.
I see that the Independent has reported this story today citing the Bloomberg report – unlike when they reported the NAMA denial earlier and did not credit NWL with the “scoop”.
The Voivodship of Ireland…indeed!
Rest of the Media seem to be playing Catch up with you again NWL
@NWL I did have a quick look at that listing,quite the price drop!
Assume,NAMA secured all the plans,specs details from Anglo and its ready to go,but who will fund it and build it.Would this not be a great opportunity for NAMA to utilize some of its 5 BILLION L of C and deploy its cracker jack asset management team,to finish a very straightforward build to suit.Save the taxpayer a few bucks and keep the ‘fees’ in house.
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