The Land Development Agency (LDA) is closing in on a deal to acquire the Irish Management Institute’s (IMI) 5.2-hectare south Dublin campus, valued at €21 million, from University College Cork (UCC).
Completion of the deal could pave the way for a large social and affordable housing development of more than 1,000 homes in the area between Sandyford and Dundrum Town Centre in south Dublin.
Two sources familiar with the negotiations said discussions between the State’s affordable housing developer and UCC over the site were at an advanced stage.
Spokesmen for the LDA and UCC declined to comment on the matter.
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The IMI campus is beside a 14.9-hectare site housing Ireland’s national mint. The Central Bank has plans to vacate the Sandyford site and develop a new currency centre near Dublin Airport at a site it bought last year for €14 million.
In 2022, the Central Bank said it would sell the current mint site. As a State body, it would be required to offer the LDA first refusal on the site at a determined market value.
The LDA previously said the Central Bank mint has the potential for 530 to 750 homes. Based on this level of density, between 185 and 262 homes could be delivered on the IMI campus.
UCC, which bought the IMI executive education group in 2016, acquired the IMI’s campus for €20 million. The university borrowed the funds required to complete the purchase of the site, which was valued at €20 million by the real estate agency Lisney following the deal.
Last year, UCC sold the IMI to the Business Post Group, now owned by Nordic media group Bonnier. The deal involved UCC retaining ownership of the Sandyford campus, but new lease agreements were signed to secure the IMI’s future on the site.
Following the deal, the Business Post and other parts of its group, including Red C Research, have relocated their offices to the IMI campus.
UCC’s latest annual report said the IMI campus was valued at €21 million. The filing also said the university made a €2.5 million profit on the sale of the IMI in 2025.
The IMI campus, which is part zoned for residential use, contains the protected structure Clonard House. No planning permission is in place for a housing project on the land.
Last year, LDA chief executive John Coleman told the Business Post the affordable developer would like to help prepare complex sites for housing development.
“We shouldn’t displace market activity, but we should step in where there isn’t market activity,” Coleman said.
“We can take on difficult sites the private sector couldn’t buy. It’s not going to kill us if we have to work through rezonings and judicial reviews. It’s hard for the private sector to underwrite those things the way we can.”
The State’s affordable housing developer, which was set up in 2018, has a total capitalisation potential of €8.75 billion. It has more than 6,500 homes under construction on more than 20 sites at present.
A recent LDA progress report said the agency would complete 1,800 new homes this year, nearly 3,000 next year and more than 3,500 in 2028.
Coleman said it would cost, on average, €430,000 to build each of these 8,300 homes or close to €3.5 billion in total.
