A NUMBER of locals in Drimnagh are objecting to multi-million euro plans by a Conor McGregor firm for an eight storey 113 unit apartment block.
Last month, Emrajare Ltd lodged the mixed use plans with Dublin City Council that involves the demolition of the Marble Arch pub that McGregor purchased for a reported €1.5m to €2m two years ago.
Emrajare’s Large Scale Residential Development (LRD) application is to also involve the demolition of warehouse buildings/structures on site.
Plans show that in their place Emrajare is to construct a three storey to eight storey 113 unit apartment scheme and also a restaurant/bar/cafe, a gym, and a retail unit on the 0.72 acre site.
The MarbleArch LRD apartment scheme is to consist of 57 two-bed units, 53 one-bed units and three studios.
The site lies adjacent to the ‘Heidelberg site’ which has planning permission for a nine storey 188 build to rent apartment scheme that McGregor has purchased and preliminary enabling works have commenced on site.
A planning report lodged with the MarbleArch LRD application by planning consultants, Tom Phillips + Associates states that the construction of both sites “will support the efficient and co-ordinated delivery of housing at two key suburban sites in the city council area”.
However, in an objection lodged on behalf of the Drimnagh Residents Community Group, chairman, John Corr has told the council that the group is strongly objecting “to the scale and the density of the planned Large Scale Residential Development”.
He said: “This is an area consisting of two & three bedroom family homes built in the 1930’s with an ageing community, who stand to lose their peace of mind, privacy, and will encounter several years of disruption, noise and most of all devaluation of their properties.”
On behalf of the group, Mr Corr states: “The Grand Canal which is a tremendous asset to our local residents and a facility that we are working with Waterways Ireland to make more user friendly will now be overshadowed and deprived of natural sunlight for large portions of the day.”
Married couple, Rita and Patrick McGowan have lodged an objection telling the council that they have lived at their address at Galtymore Rd, Drimnagh for the past 81 years.
They state that construction work on the Heidelberg site is causing them “upset, trauma and taking a detrimental toll on our health, family life and well being”.
They state: “We cannot open our windows/doors due to dirt, dust and extreme exposure to noise levels.”
On the new plans before the council, the McGowans express concern that the scheme will devalue their property.
They state that they are both in their eighties and “the development height up to eight storeys is very high that will greatly impede on our privacy”.
In a 57 page submission, ‘Dynamic Drimnagh’ contend that the scale of the scheme is “excessive” and will invade the privacy of those living on the western boundary of Benbulbin Rd.
The scheme will ease City Council social housing lists for the area as the planning report confirms that 20pc or 23 apartments will be sold by the developer to the City Council for social housing under Part V of the Planning and Development Act.
Planning documentation lodged with the Council reveal that Emrajare initially proposed a 151 unit scheme rising to 11 storeys last year.
However, the applicants reduced the scale of the block to the current eight storey proposal after City Council planner concerns over height, scale and massing.
Advancing the planning case for the 113 unit application, Aoife McCarthy at Tom Phillips + Associates has told the council that the proposed development “will provide for the urban consolidation of an infill brownfield inner suburban site” and the apartments are “designed to ensure high levels of residential amenity to prospective residents and the wider residential community”.
Ms McCarthy contends “that the building is of a high architectural design and will constitute a significant positive addition to the visual landscape in the environs of the application site”.
The site is located close to the Red Luas line, the Grand Canal and to significant employment hubs, St. James’s Hospital and Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin.
Group CEO of McGregor Sports and Entertainment, Alan Geraghty is a director for Emrajare and and is a director of Mr McGregor’s other Irish firms.
The most recently filed accounts for Emrajare show that it had investment properties with a book value of €21.46m at the end of December last. The company had loans of €25.67m.
Mr McGregor has deep pockets to fund the MarbleArch LRD venture from the estimated hundreds of millions he has earned from his MMA career and business dealings.
According to figures from Forbes, McGregor was ranked 35th in its 2022 top highest earning athlete rankings earning $43m over a 12 month period before dropping off the list in 2023.
