US investors Ares Management and Starwood are front-runners for one of Dublin’s largest office and residential developments.
Ares, with Joe O’Reilly’s Chartered Land, and Starwood are understood to be leading third rival bidder Lone Star in the race for the 17.3-acre Elm Park in Dublin 4.
Bids for the site are expected to approach €200m (£141m), well in excess of its €185m asking price.
The development, which had been mostly completed at the time of the Irish property crash in 2008, had a face value of €550m at that time, based on the Anglo Irish Bank loan made to original owners Bernard McNamara, Jerry O’Reilly and David Courtney.
The preferred bidder will take on a project that has a rent roll of €9.5m from three of the office blocks on the site, which are fully occupied by tenants including insurance firm Allianz and Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis.
A further €3.8m of income is collected from 218 flats and eight terraced houses, with potential to boost the total rent roll across Elm Park by €6m with the fit-out and leasing of a fourth office block, the Pioneer Building.
The sale of the portfolio by Nama is being handled by DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and Savills. A decision is expected shortly.
