Developer Dunne gets go-ahead for scaled down D4 plan

PROPERTY mogul, Sean Dunne, has been granted planning permission for a major residential, hotel and retail development at the D4Hotels site in Ballsbridge in Dublin.

Mr Dunne’s Mountbrook group were granted a 10-year permission by An Bord Pleanála for the development of 490 residential units in 11 residential blocks ranging in height from six to 12 storeys and a 10-storey 151-bedroom hotel fronting onto Pembroke Road.

The plans also include some 43,000sq ft (4,000sq m) of retail space which will include a restaurant, cafe, bars, creche, healthcare facilities and a 920-space underground car park, 899 bicycle spaces and 72 motorbike spaces.

According to a statement from the company, which employs 250 people, D4Hotels “remains open for business and any development will not commence for at least five years”.

Mr Dunne expressed thanks to the financial institutions who funded the project in a statement.

“On behalf of all of the staff at D4Hotels and Mountbrook, I would like to thank our customers of D4Hotels and our funders Ulster Bank, ACC Bank and Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander who have been most supportive of the D4Hotels’ operation and planning process in extremely difficult times for bankers, investors and the public,” he said.

The plan is a far cry from what the property developer had envisioned when he bought the site of the Berkeley Court, Jury’s Ballsbridge and Towers Hotel in 2005 for a record price of €375 million — €54m an acre.

The colourful entrepreneur famously vowed to turn the upmarket southside suburb into “Dublin’s Knightsbridge”. He also spent a further €15m on professional fees in designing the project.

The Carlow-born developer had sought planning permission for a development that combined residential, commercial, office and recreational uses including a landmark 37-storey tower called One Berkeley Court and seven other high-rise buildings.

In August 2007, Mr Dunne sought permission for a development on the site which included a plan for a landmark 37-storey building.

In March 2008, Dublin City Council refused permission for the 37-storey building and two other multi-storey complexes.

However, it granted permission for the remainder of the development subject to 27 conditions.

In September of the same year, An Bord Pleanála began a 15-day public hearing into an appeal against the council’s decision by both Dunne and third parties.

Out of 126 appeals, 90 parties supported Dunne, while 36 opposed the plans.

In January 2009, An Bord Pleanála refused permission for Mr Dunne’s plans on five grounds, which mostly related to the scale, height and density of the development, which the board said would constitute “gross over-development and over-intensification” of the site.