It’s a steal! Gorse Hill goes for €9.5m
... 10k sqft and a colourful back story
GORSE Hill, the lavish family home formerly owned by the O’Donnell family has sold – but for €12million less than a €21million price-tag it once boasted.
Nevertheless, the home, which has six bedrooms, two reception rooms and one very colourful back story was purchased for €9.5million – €1million more than its asking price of €8.5million.
The once-disputed property went on the market in March, four months after solicitor Brian O’Donnell and his family lost their final legal battle to retain control of the house, which had been repossessed by Bank of Ireland.
The neo-Georgian home stretches over 10,000sqft on the exclusive Vico Road in south Co. Dublin. The road is also home to Bono, who lives just a few doors away.
The O’Donnells and their four adult children, Blaise, Blake, Bruce and Alexandra, battled with the bank between 2011 and 2016 as it sought repayment of €71.5million in property-related loans.
Mr O’Donnell and his wife Mary Patricia were declared bankrupt in 2013 over their joint debts to BoI. By early 2015, the family had enlisted the support of the New Land League, an anti-repossession group. At the height of the controversy, Land League spokesman Jerry Beades famously described the mansion as ‘bog-standard’.
Bank of Ireland seized the property in April 2015 and the O’Donnells left Gorse Hill on April 30. That same day at BoI’s AGM in Dublin, Mr O’Donnell tossed the keys – with a keyring marked ‘The Bloody Keys’ to Gorse Hill – in front of the bank’s boss, Richie Boucher.
The property went on the market through joint agents Sherry FitzGerald and Knight Frank on behalf of the receiver for Bank of Ireland.
The Irish Times reported that Gorse Hill sold for €9.5million to an undisclosed buyer. The price could be considered a steal given that it was valued at around €21million in 2006.