Spare a thought for poor old David Agar, the anxious NAMAed developer now contemplating post-NAMA life driving a Ford Cortina and living in a 3-bed semi – by the way, David might have some legitimate grievances towards NAMA, but his “Cortina” comments didn’t do much to bolster his standing. Fellow NAMAed developers, on the other hand, have already seen their mansions put on the block at a fraction of their peak values.
The Irish Times today reports that NAMAed Derek Quinlan’s adjoining properties at No 1 and 3 Shrewsbury Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin have finally been sold for a reported €5.5m which was 30% less than NAMA was seeking last year, and 80% less than the price reportedly paid by Derek in the first place in 2006. There is a superbly detailed account of the properties, with photographs, from the DublinEstates blog which first reported the sale over a week ago. It would be inaccurate to describe these adjoining properties as Derek Quinlan’s own mansion – the intention was to develop the property into a super mansion, but meantime it doesn’t seem like Derek ever lived at the properties.
Last week’s sale on Shrewsbury Road comes on the heels of the sale of NAMAed Robert Butler’s mansion in Adare Manor in Limerick, first reported by the Limerick Leader last month The 16,500 sq ft mansion was apparently worth €12m at the height of the boom, had an asking price of €2.9m and eventually sold for €1.9m, over 80% off its peak value.
Today the Irish Times reports that NAMAed John Lally’s Humewood Castle in county Wicklow has come onto the market with an asking price of €8m, which is 70% off the €25m purchase price in 2006. Although John Lally might be in NAMA, it is not clear if Humewood Castle is subject to, or associated with, a NAMA loan. Reports reached here last year of weekend parties at Humewood and the impression was that John Lally hadn’t heard that the music had stopped and the party was over. Whether or not that is true, the Castle has a colourful history – it emerged in January this year that the arrested German internet millionaire, dubbed “Kim Dotcom”, the man behind the Megaupload website had partied at Humewood in 2009, and under its previous owner, Renata Coleman, it had played host to Hollywood’s then-Golden Couple, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. But as that relationship has gone south, so have the fortunes of John Lally and his company Lalco which reported a loss of €173m in 2009 and net liabilities of €393m. The joint agents for the 38,000 sq ft property on 427 acres are Sherry FitzGerald – listing here – and Christie’s International Real Estate.
It seems as if there is still a market for mansions in post Celtic Tiger Ireland, mind you, there’s still no sign of Frank Boyd’s Rademon country estate in county Down coming on the market.
UPDATE: 13th April, 2012. According to Donal O’Donovan in today’s Independent, the loans underpinning Humewood Castle have indeed gone to NAMA, that is sourced from the latest accounts for Lalco Holdings.
UPDATE: 21st December 2012. The Irish Times today reports that US media mogul (with Irish roots) John Malone has bought Humewood for €7.225m. His main Irish vehicle UPC is said to have invested €1bn in Ireland.
Indo reported that one of Cortina’s luxurious abodes had hit market,not sure if it was the principal private residence.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cortina-developers-house-on-nama-list-3066471.html
“Craughwell, the luxurious six-bed house in leafy Foxrock was one of a number of properties taken over by NAMA in February, when it took control of parts of developer David Agar’s property empire.”
@John, at a mere 5,300 sq ft, it doesn’t meet the US definition of mansion (>8,000 sq ft) or indeed the European definition (a ballroom is a prerequisite) The details for Craughwell including photos are still available via David Agar’s company’s own website
http://www.profileproperties.com/craughwell.whtm
@JG, Craughwell is part of an assembled development site on Brighton Road in Foxrock. It was purchased to give access to lands at the rear and was tarted up by a UK Designer. Hit the market too late.
@WSTT, the interior designer was apparently Nula (without the second “a”) Roberts whose work, including Craughwell, can be viewed here
http://nularoberts.com/portfolio.html
thank you both for the links,good to start the day with a laugh!
No personal offense to Ms. Nula and her former developer patrons but I do find their prissy style just a little over the top. However, I do think it clearly manifests the depth of their intellect and taste. One of the great moments in my life was a visit to Dublin City Gallery to see Francis Bacon’s studio. It confirmed a long held belief that more often than not, there is a reverse relationship between real talent and genius, and supercilious symmetry.
It seems that David has had the last laugh, can send the Cortina to the scrap heap and buy himself a new Ford Mondeo from lat week’s £25 million award against the Ulster Bank for mis-selling him Swaps.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9434489/RBS-pays-more-than-25m-to-businessman-David-Agar-over-interest-rate-swaps.html
One for the little (well…. not so little) guys in the 50 year old Fords.
P.S. I note that the Ulster Bank’s parent RBS, has been listed as one of three banks responsible for the LIBOR fixing. One of the real “bully” banks, it couldn’t happen to nicer people.
P.S. This is a major blow to the banks who were selling SWAPS to their borrowers in the Irish market – in particular the Ulster Bank (but Anglo was equally culpable). It is no wonder that it was quietly settled. What surprises me is that not one Irish media financial journalist picked it up and reported it. The Brits reporting on an important Irish case that went un-noticed in the Irish business media? Shoorly sumthing rong? Now if I was a conspiracy theorist……