The Department of Justice's HQ is on the market for €20 million

THE DEPARTMENT OF Justice’s Dublin headquarters has gone on sale for €20 million – with its new buyer expected to upgrade and expand the historic building.

Agents Savills are marketing 94 Stephen’s Green – originally the Centenary Church of Ireland – on behalf of investment management group SW3 Capital. The property last sold for €16.5 million in 2014.

The complex currently includes an office building with a listed façade and a modern office extension to the rear. Also included in the sale is an adjoining townhouse, which fronts onto St Stephen’s Green.

Part of the original structure dates back as far as 1841, when the Centenary Church purchased the site for its Irish headquarters.

However the church burned down in December 1968, ending the organisation’s 127-year association with the property. It was then sold.

Today, the building spans more than 2,000 sq m – although the agents say a new owner could add “a significant amount” to the floor area with a new penthouse level.

The whole property, including the townhouse, is currently let to the Office of Public Works, with the state paying just over €1 million per year for the site. The leases expire in June next year.

Prestige and history

Savills’ Dessie Kilkenny said: “I expect the prestige and history associated with the property will draw an array of investor types, owner occupiers and developers to consider the opportunity.”

London-based SW3 Capital snapped up a number of commercial properties around Dublin as prices recovered from the trough of the recession.

It previously bought Eir’s offices at Citywest in west Dublin for €30 million, as well as shelling out €50 million on other investments such as Dublin Business School’s building on Aungier St.

According to the firm’s website, it identified a “generational opportunity” in the Irish property market during 2012 – which had driven “exceptional returns” since for investors.

Written by Paul Hosford and Peter Bodkin.