THE HSE HAS said it intends to close the sale of Baggot Street Hospital shortly, after the iconic building was reportedly sold to a hotelier.

Labour TD Ivana Bacik told The Journal that it is “deeply disappointing” that the building will not be used to provide homes.

“The Land Development Agency should have been involved in this. Instead, we see a commercial sale announced on the private market,” she said. 

Last October, the historic building – which dates back to 1831 – was put on the market by the HSE. 

The property had been lying vacant since 2019 when the HSE ceased its operations there.

The Business Post previously reported that the building has been snapped up by owners of the five-star Dylan Hotel. Frank Knight, the real estate consultancy firm that looked after the sale were contacted by The Journal for further details about the buyers, but they would not comment on the details of the sale. 

Despite calls for the site to be used for much-needed housing in the city centre, no state agency opted to purchase the property for housing. 

Ivana Bacik told The Journal: “I and my Labour colleague, councillor Dermot Lacey, have been pushing government for years now to get the state to take over the building and repurpose it for providing accommodation – for healthcare workers for example.”

“Once again the government has failed in the provision of homes, in the midst of a housing emergency when there are so many HSE and other state-owned properties lying idle, vacant or even derelict.”

Baggot Street Hospital site which was sold in a bids process. Daft.ie Daft.ie

Bacik recently raised the matter with the Taoiseach, raising concerns that the building was being sold on the private market and not considered for use by one of the state agencies. 

“What is wrong with that?” Micheál Martin said to her. 

‘Best bids’ process used to sell property

Responding to queries about the sale, the HSE told The Journal that following confirmation that no other state agency required the property, a comprehensive marketing campaign was undertaken to sell the property.

“This culminated in a best bids process. A purchaser has been selected, and the HSE Board approved the transaction. It is intended to close the sale of Baggot Street Hospital shortly,” they said.

The HSE said it will continue to pay security costs until the sale is concluded.

When asked about the sale price, the HSE said it was not in a position to disclose any further information due to ongoing contractual commitments and commercial sensitivities.

The Irish Times commercial property section reported last year that guide price for the property was €5.5 million and that the property is “expected to see strong interest from a wide range of parties, including hoteliers and developers of high-end residential accommodation”.

A Dublin City Council inspection report on the property in 2022 said the building was put up for sale in 2015 with a guide price of €15 million, but it failed to sell.

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Last year, The Journal reported extensively on the sale of the property and the controversy surrounding whether the HSE offered the property to the Department of Housing and the Land Development Agency (LDA). 

HSE boss Bernard Gloster told an Oireachtas Committee that if any state agency wanted to write to him and express a strategic interest in procuring that building, he would take it off the market.

Too expensive to refurbish

In the end, the LDA ruled out the property for housing, stating that it would cost too much to refurbish it for housing needs. 

The chair of the OPW John Conlon was also previously asked if consideration had been given to purchasing it, given the historical nature of the site. 

He told the Oireachtas committee that the OPW had not given it consideration as they have a funding limit for capital works that they have to operate within for the next five years.

“It is a very old property and, I agree, quite a historical one in a very good location. However, the amount of investment it would require probably would be an impediment to our giving it further consideration. I am being very candid and frank in saying that,” he said at the time. 

Housing minister James Browne has previously said that the adaptive reuse of historic hospital buildings, often with preservation orders in place, has proved unviable to date given the high costs of refurbishment and reconfiguration that would be required.

“It is important to note that the level of funding that would be required to make the buildings useable could be better deployed to make more housing or accommodation beds available more quickly,” he added.