A wide range of parties including developers, investors and potentially healthcare providers are expected to vie to secure ownership of the former St Mary’s nursing home in Dublin 4.
Located on a 5.451-hectare (13.47-acre) site immediately adjacent to St Vincent’s University and Private hospitals and the Elmpark Green office and residential scheme, St Mary’s is being offered quietly to prospective purchasers by selling agent Avison Young. The site’s potential is reflected in the guide price of €40 million, which equates to an average of €2.97 million an acre.
Established by the Religious Sisters of Charity in 1868, St Mary’s Home for the “Destitute Catholic Blind”, as it was originally known, was developed subsequently as a healthcare and residential campus. It operated as St Mary’s nursing home and Caritas convalescent home before being placed into liquidation by the order in July 2020.
In 2022, the Sisters applied to Dublin City Council to change the zoning a portion of the St Mary’s lands to reflect the “future development potential” of institutional lands.
Approximately 4.85 hectares (11.97 acres) of the site is now zoned ‘Z15 – Community and Social Infrastructure’, with the remaining 0.53 hectares (1.3 acres) zoned “Z6 – Employment/Enterprise” in the Dublin City Council Development Plan 2022-2028. The objective of the Z15 zoning is “to protect and provide for community uses and social infrastructure”, while the aim of the Z6 objective is “to provide for the creation and protection of enterprise and facilitate opportunities for employment creation”.
A strategic masterplan drawn up by Reddy Architecture + Urbanism in preparation for the site’s sale points to its potential to accommodate a “landmark multi-use development” comprising approximately 360 apartments across a range of tenures, 315 single-bed student accommodation units primarily intended for medical students, a 250 single-bed step-down/care home facility, a 239-bedroom hotel, and approximately 19,523sq m of private hospital accommodation.
Following extensive consultations in accordance with Section 247 of The Planning & Development Act, 2000. Dublin City Council issued an advisory response to the proposed master plan.
The St Mary’s campus site is home currently to a number of buildings, and these extend to a total area of 10,269sq m (110,535sq ft).
The main building on the site is St Mary’s and its chapel. Dating from the mid-to-late 19th century, this property which operated formerly as a nursing home and disability centre has 10 bedrooms together with offices, support accommodation, laundry facilities, kitchens, and ancillary space.
The complex also incorporates a range of other nursing home and residential buildings including St Patrick’s, Loyola House, St Oliver’s, the Telford apartments and houses, Marmion, a convent occupied by the Religious Sisters of Charity, and two detached houses known as Shalom and Providence respectively.
As part of the proposed master plan, St Mary’s and the chapel would be retained and integrated, while the remaining buildings currently on the site would be demolished, subject to planning permission.
St Mary’s campus occupies a prime location in Dublin 4 and sits within a short distance of numerous of the capital’s most sought-after residential areas, including Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Sandymount and Blackrock.