Conor McGregor's apartment scheme suffers knockout blow after council rejects plan
Gordon Deegan
Conor McGregor has suffered a knock-out blow to his plans to construct a multi-million euro eight-storey 113-unit apartment block in the MMA fighter's home area of Drimnagh, Dublin 12.
Dublin City Council roundly rejected Mr McGregor’s Emrajare Ltd mixed use scheme that involves the demolition of the Marble Arch pub which he purchased for a reported €1.5-2 million three years ago.
Emrajare’s Large Scale Residential Development (LRD) application was to also involve the demolition of warehouse buildings/structures on site and, in their place, constructing a three-storey to eight-storey 113 unit apartment scheme and also a restaurant/bar/cafe, a gym, a retail unit on the 0.72 acre site at Benbulbin Rd, Drimnagh.
The MarbleArch LRD apartment scheme consists of 57 two bed units, 53 one bed units and three studios.
Over 20 objections were lodged against the scheme and in a comprehensive rejection of the scheme, the council refused planning permission on four separate grounds.
In a decision issued on Thursday, the council refused planning permission as the proposed development "would constitute overdevelopment of the restricted site and create an overly dominant and incongruous development".
The council stated the scheme fails to provide an appropriate transition on scale to existing residential development to the south of the site.
The planning authority stated that the scheme "would have an overbearing impact and result in undue overlooking of adjacent residential properties".
The council stated that the scheme would significantly detract from the visual amenities of the area and seriously injure the amenities of property in the vicinity.
Travel needs
The council's planners also concluded that the applicant has failed to demonstrate that the range of travel needs of the future resident population can be met by the proposed development.
The planning authority stated that due to the location of the site and the low provision of car parking proposed, the proposed development "would give rise to unacceptable levels of overspill and haphazard parking on adjacent heavily trafficked roads and bus corridor".
The council said that as a result, the proposed scheme would seriously injure the amenities of the area "and endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard and obstruction of pedestrians, bus services and other road users".
The local authority also refused planning permission after pointing out that it fails to provide five per cent community, arts and culture space as part of the development in one with standards as set out in the Dublin City Development Plan.
Emrajare Ltd now has the option of appealing the council’s refusal to An Bord Pleanala.
The Emrajare site lies adjacent to the 'Heidelberg site’ which has planning permission for a nine-storey 188-unit build-to-rent apartment scheme that Mr McGregor has purchased and works have commenced on site for that apartment scheme.
The most recently filed accounts for Emrajare show that it had investment properties with a book value of €21.46 million at the end of December 2022. The company had loans of €25.67 million.
Mr McGregor has deep pockets to fund the MarbleArch LRD venture from the estimated hundreds of millions he has earned from his MMA career and business dealings.
According to figures from Forbes, McGregor was ranked 35th in its 2022 top highest earning athlete rankings earning $43 million over a 12-month period before dropping off the list in 2023.
