Carnalea, a substantial modern home constructed just 10 years ago on Howth’s Thormanby Road, is set to be demolished by its new owner and replaced with a larger home.
In December 2015, The Irish Times revealed the off-market sale of the house for a record €5 million, which was the highest price achieved for any north Dublin home since Property Price Register records began in 2010.
The buyer, Howth Road resident Patrick O'Sullivan, the majority shareholder of Showtime Cinemas, wants to replace Carnalea with an 882sq m (9,500sq ft) two-storey-over-basement six-bedroom house, which would span nearly the full width of the home's 1.63 acre site.
Mr O’Sullivan’s plans for Carnalea are currently on hold.
Planners contacted the architects in July seeking further information about the development and requesting that the width of the proposed property be reduced.
The move to demolish the existing house will come as a surprise to market observers and neighbours. It was thought that the premium price paid for the property last year was based on the merits of the existing house, as opposed to the site.
The price paid for the Carnalea site now equates to €3.07 million an acre, and would be even higher when the costs involved in demolishing the existing home are taken into account.
In January 2008, the house next door, Glenlion House, sold for €4.9 million but came with nearly triple the land at 4.75 acres – equating to €1.03 million an acre.
The seller, rogue solicitor Michael Lynn, had paid more than €5 million for the then-dilapidated property just a year earlier, at the height of the boom.
The sale of Carnalea for a record price was bound to attract neighbours to follow suit and sell, and one such house three doors away, Danes Hollow, has since emerged with an asking price of €9.5 million.
Owned by Riverdance duo John McColgan and Moya Doherty, the price tag of the 800sq m (8,610sq ft) home on 3.35 acres is now looking like value for money in light of news regarding Carnalea's planned multi-million euro redevelopment.
