O’Flynn in line to buy UK landbank
O’Flynn Construction is set to add a Scottish development, believed to be worth €44m, to its growing property empire.
The Cork firm, one of the biggest developers in the country, has teamed up with leading stockbrokers Goodbody to bid for a four-acre site in Edinburgh.
O’Flynn, owned by brothers Michael and John, and Goodbody, set up a company called Tiger Development, to tender for the Haymarket site on Morrison Street in the Scottish capital.
Now it has been announced that Tiger has been chosen as the preferred bidder.
The Morrison Street site is owned by a development company that is wholly owned by the City of Edinburgh Council.
The site was originally estimated to be worth in the region of €34m. Thirteen companies have expressed an interesting in buying the site.
Some insiders believe the bid from O’Flynn was in the region of €44m.
The four-acre Haymarket site already has planning permission for a mixed use development which includes, offices, retail and leisure, such as bars and a hotel.
The exact preferred bid price was not revealed by the parties.
“The site is one of the most significant in Edinburgh,” said Alan Robertson, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle Scotland, who handled the sale.
“The high level of interest reflected the Haymarket’s strategic location at the western gateway into Edinburgh city centre and the tightening of the supply of commercial office space in central Edinburgh.”
Development of the Edinburgh site is long overdue with plans for it dogged and delayed by studies, negotiations, re-planning and an expensive public inquiry. It has been derelict for 40 years.
Article courtesy of The Evening Echo newspaper
