
Ardstone to acquire Spencer Place Residential development for €177m
The group said the deal marks the highest value residential investment deal in Ireland this year and underscores renewed investor confidence in the sector.
Spencer Place Residential marks the final phase of the Spencer Place campus and includes 360 private units across two buildings, offering build-to-rent apartments and co-living spaces.
The development also includes a 24-hour concierge, gym, cinema, co-working areas and top-floor lounges and is designed to support a "vibrant, sustainable lifestyle" for over 700 residents.
The development was operated by Ronan Group's Libra Living platform, which managed the day-to-day operations of the scheme.
Ronan Group bought the six-acre mixed-use Spencer Place campus in the North Docklands in 2016 and secured the largest pre-let ever achieved in the Irish market, to Salesforce.
The Ronan Group-developed Salesforce Tower Dublin is the greenest Salesforce Tower in the world. Fully electric and certified LEED Platinum, it is one of the first NZEB compliant buildings in Ireland to be occupied by a commercial tenant.
Together with the adjoining Samuel Hotel, developed by Ronan Group and leased to Dalata, Salesforce Tower was purchased by Blackstone in 2022 for over €500m.
Gavin Wyley, Head of Residential Development at Ronan Group, said that Spencer Place Residential is a development that has played a central role in the transformation of Dublin's North Docklands.
"The price achieved reflects the strong fundamentals of Ireland's economy and the improving sentiment in the residential investment market. We expect this momentum to continue into 2026, supported by recent government amendments to rental caps and apartment standards coupled with sustained demand for high-quality urban living," he added.
The Ronan Group also has other projects in the pipeline. Waterfront South Central, its flagship mixed-use development, is currently under on Dublin's North Wall Quay. It will include the European headquarters of Citi, which is due for completion next year.
It is also developing a new urban quarter at the Glass Bottle site in Dublin 4. The site, covering 37 acres on the Poolbeg Peninsula, will comprise over 3,800 new homes alongside more than 1 million square feet of commercial space. 894 apartments are currently under construction and are set to start welcoming their first residents later this year, while planning has been lodged for a 20-storey, 228-key hotel.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Irish company CarTrawler acquires Paris-based insurance firm
Irish technology firm CarTrawler, which provides platforms for car rental and other mobility options to the global travel industry, has announced the acquisition of Paris-based firm Koala. Koala specialises in travel insurance technology solutions as well as offering more traditional travel insurance products across a network of over 70 partners in 17 countries. This acquisition marks CarTrawler's strategic entry into the 'insurtech' travel segment and further expands its multi-product ancillary platform. Chief executive of CarTrawler Peter O'Donovan said the acquisition of Koala is a 'further step toward fulfilling our ambition of becoming the leading multi-product ancillary platform for the global travel industry'. CarTrawler's technology, the Connect Platform, is used by airlines, online travel agents, hotels and travel providers in the world including United Airlines, Air France KLM, Uber, American Airlines, easyJet, and American Express. It is headquartered in Dublin and has a team of over 300 employees. The company generated revenue of €172m during its 2023 financial year. The company claimed that its earnings before earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation is up over 20% in the nine months to the end of June this year, 'reflecting an acceleration in business momentum, a stable car rental pricing environment, and a healthy new partnership pipeline'. Read More Lending limits on credit unions set to be 'significantly' increased

Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Cash not the issue for Government but how to spend it wisely, Ifac boss briefed ahead of committee
The Apple tax windfall, the budgetary impact of migration and value for money in the health service were likely questions flagged to Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac) chairman Seamus Coffey in briefings by his officials in advance of an Oireachtas appearance. Two Q&A documents were prepared for Mr Coffey in advance of the meeting of the committee on budgetary oversight in early July – one highlighting issues likely to be 'pertinent now' while the other looked at questions that arose 'consistently. 'On what to do with the €13.8 billion Apple tax windfall, a suggested answer for Mr Coffey said to remember the Government 'is not stuck for cash.' It said: '[The State] is stuck for its capacity to spend it on things we all want. There are three broad options – spend it, save it, [or] cut debt.' READ MORE The Q&A said spending it on housing was easier said than done as the biggest issues were 'construction sector capacity and planning bottlenecks' not the availability of cash. If asked about the budgetary implications of migration, the briefing noted there had been 'large increases' in numbers coming to Ireland in recent years. 'This has meant the labour force and employment has been able to grow as rapidly as it has in recent years,' it said, before noting that around €2.1 billion 'has been set aside for humanitarian assistance to refugees this year (€800 million of this is for Ukrainian refugees). 'In terms of future costs, these are uncertain,' the briefing note added. The Q&A said that getting migrants integrated into employment and their own homes would reduce costs for the Government. 'An increased supply of housing would mean some of the more expensive means of accommodation [hotels] may be replaced,' it said. On cost-of-living supports, which have been a big feature of recent budgets, the Ifac briefings said these were now 'likely permanent'. 'There is probably less of a case for once-off measures this winter,' the briefing document said. 'Permanent increases in social welfare could be targeted at specific groups. However, the measures have seldom been targeted.' Mr Coffey was also briefed on employment in construction and whether we needed more people working in that sector. 'Just over 6 per cent of all employment is in the construction sector,' his Q&A document noted, adding that between 2005 and 2007, this had reached over 10 per cent. 'This may have been unsustainable, however,' the briefing added, advising Mr Coffey to 'mention productivity, can we get more output from the same workforce?'. A Q&A on broader questions highlighted the challenges in creating a wealth tax that would be fair, not become an administrative burden, and collect enough money to make it worthwhile. On how to fix repeated overruns in health spending, the briefing said that 'poor budgeting' was a problem but that there was also evidence of 'reduced productivity'. It also explained how Ireland's failure to meet its climate targets carried a very real 'fiscal risk'. The Q&A said the State had already forgone €500 million from carbon credits it was entitled to sell and that costs of noncompliance were in the range of €8 billion and €26 billion. 'While several [EU] member states are projected to fall short, the potential costs are significantly higher for Ireland relative to the size of its economy,' the briefing noted. Asked about the records, Ifac said they had no further comment to make.

The Journal
4 hours ago
- The Journal
Johnny Ronan's planned 17-storey mixed use scheme for Dublin's docklands is rejected
AN COIMISIÚN PLEANÁLA has upheld Dublin City Council's rejection of Johnny Ronan's RGRE planned 17-storey mixed use scheme for Dublin's docklands. In February, Ronan's Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) lodged plans for the redevelopment of global banking giant Citigroup's current European headquarters at 1 North Wall Quay in Dublin's docklands. The scheme involves the demolition of Citigroup's existing six-storey office building and the development of four buildings in its place, ranging in heights of nine storeys to 17 storeys. According to the plans, the scheme would include office accommodation, arts/ community/cultural uses and a retail/café/restaurant unit. RGRE firm NWQ Devco Limited was seeking a ten-year planning permission The council comprehensively rejected the scheme in April, resulting in applicants NWQ Devco Ltd appealing the refusal to An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP). In refusing planning permission, ACP has found that the scheme's excessive height, bulk, massing and form would constitute an overly dominant and isolated tall building that would be at odds with the surrounding context and would seriously injure the amenity of the Liffey Quays and key views along the river corridor. The ACP refusal order pointed out that the planned site is a prominent and sensitive location which fronts onto the River Liffey and within the Liffey Quays conservation area and is in close proximity to neighbouring properties. Advertisement The development was to be located at Citigroup's current European headquarters at 1 North Wall Quay in Dublin's docklands. Dublin City Council Dublin City Council ACP found that the proposed development would result in significant adverse impacts to residential amenity due to the unacceptable and unjustified loss of daylight and overshadowing of a principal shared amenity space. ACP also found that the scheme did not meet the criteria for exceptional circumstances for enhanced height, density and scale for Landmark Tall Buildings. In the second part of the board order refusing planning permission, signed off by Planning Commissioner Mary Henchy, ACP stated that having regard to the age, form and condition of the existing office building and the results of the Whole Carbon assessment, the commission found that the wholesale demolition of the existing building would be both premature and unjustified and would set an unwelcome precedent for the demolition on similar sites in Dublin. As a result, the commission found that the scheme was contrary to a policy in the City Development Plan that supports and promotes the retrofitting of existing buildings. Clarion Quay Management (CQE) Company CLG was a third party appellant in the support of the Council refusal and its appeal to ACP was aimed at protecting the residential amenity of dwellings and maintaining and improving safe and uncongested access to other uses of CQE. The RGRE appeal included an Arthur Cox submission which stated that the application submitted meets the criteria for 'exceptional circumstances' that would allow planning permission to be granted for a landmark building. The letter stated that it appears that the City Council did not engage in any analysis or consideration of the 'exceptional circumstance' and whether it is met by the development. Architects of the scheme, Henry J Lyons, contended that the scheme as submitted is appropriate for the context of the site.