A Conor McGregor firm has lodged plans with Dublin City Council for a multi-million euro mixed use scheme that will comprise an eight storey 113 unit apartment block in the MMA fighter's home area of Drimnagh, Dublin 12.
The Emrajare Ltd scheme involves the demolition of the Marble Arch pub that Mr McGregor purchased for a reported €1.5m to €2m two years ago.
Emrajare's Large Scale Residential Development (LRD) application is to also involve the demolition of warehouse buildings/structures on site and in their place, Emrajare is to construct 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.
The Marblearch LRD apartment scheme is to consist of 57 two bed units, 53 one bed units and three studios.
The site lies adjacent to the 'Heidelberg site’ which has planning permission for a nine storey 188 build to rent apartment scheme that Mr McGregor has purchased and preliminary enabling works have commenced on site for that apartment scheme.
A planning report lodged with the MarbleArch LRD application by planning consultants, Tom Phillips + Associates state that the construction of both sites "will support the efficient and co-ordinated delivery of housing at two key suburban sites in the city council area".
The scheme will also ease city council social housing lists for the area as the planning report confirms that 20% or 23 apartments will be sold by the developer to the council for social housing under Part V of the Planning and Development Act.
Planning documentation lodged with the council reveal that Emrajare initially proposed a 151 unit scheme rising to 11 storeys last year.
However, the applicants reduced the scale of the block to the current eight storey proposal after City Council planner concerns over height, scale and massing.
Advancing the planning case for the 113 unit application, Aoife McCarthy at Tom Phillips + Associates has told the council that the proposed development "will provide for the urban consolidation of an infill brownfield inner suburban site" and the apartments are "designed to ensure high levels of residential amenity to prospective residents and the wider residential community".
Ms McCarthy contends "that the building is of a high architectural design and will constitute a significant positive addition to the visual landscape in the environs of the application site".
Ms McCarthy further states that the proposed development offers "a unique opportunity to deliver high density residential development, which complements and integrates with permitted development at the Heidelberg site".
Ms McCarthy discloses that as part of the scheme, Emrajare is proposing to make a financial contribution towards the delivery of upgrade works to the nearby Crumlin Boxing Club.
The site is located close to the Red Luas line, the Grand Canal and to significant employment hubs, St. James’s Hospital and Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin.
Group CEO of McGregor Sports and Entertainment, Alan Geraghty, is a director for Emrajare and and is a director of Mr McGregor’s other Irish firms.
The most recently filed accounts for Emrajare show that it had investment properties with a book value of €21.46m at the end of December last. The company had loans of €25.67m.
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 $43m over a 12 month period before dropping off the list in 2023.
