OPW 'never objected' to €10m Miesian Plaza rent overpayment
Miesian Plaza, Baggot Street Lower, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin, where the Department of Health is headquartered. File picture
A rental overpayment costing the State €10m was incurred because the responsible body never requested that the figure be adjusted downwards, according to the landlord.
Miesian Plaza, the headquarters of the Department of Health in Dublin, was measured using a newly-introduced standard prior to its lease being signed in 2016 by the Office of Public Works (OPW), the custodian of much of the State’s property portfolio.
That standard saw the property measured at 3.7% a greater floor space than would have hitherto been the case.
However, in an advert published in the , Parma Properties, owner of Miesian Plaza landlord Remley Developments, said that while the presumption of the OPW had been that the rental payment would be adjusted downwards, “this view was never communicated to Remley and no such downward adjustment to the rent was discussed or negotiated”.
The OPW had not responded to this statement at the time of publication.
In its statement, published ahead of the planned screening of an programme concerning property management at the OPW, Remley states that since the matter of the overpayment emerged in 2018, it has “acted in good faith” in engaging in meetings with the OPW “in an effort to resolve this issue”.
The firm, which is owned by beef tycoon Larry Goodman, said it is “committed, in the interests of equity and fair dealings, to reaching a mutually acceptable resolution”.
The asked Parma what would qualify as such a mutually acceptable outcome in its view, but the firm declined to comment further.
In the statement, Parma said it “has had an excellent working relationship with the OPW” for 40 years.
It stated that the rental lease secured on the Miesian Plaza building by the OPW in 2016 was at a significant discount to that being paid on the other two buildings at the property at that time, amounting to “a total saving of €38.5m over the 25-year term of the lease”.
“The misunderstanding in relation to the measurement issue should not detract from the excellent deal concluded by the OPW,” it said.
The OPW has given eight separate written updates to the PAC since March 2019 as to the status of negotiations with Remley.
The OPW last month requested a virtual meeting with the company. The two parties have not met face-to-face since January of last year. That request was rejected due to the developer’s preference for an in-person meeting.
