Waste tycoon plots 600 units in Dublin 4

Waste tycoon Eamon Waters is planning the construction of nearly 600 apartments and student beds on the former Jacobs Engineering site on Merrion Road in Dublin, writes Linda Daly. Waters purchased Merrion House from developer Joe O’Reilly’s Castlethorn Construction for nearly €20 million this year. It overlooks Dublin Bay.
Waters made the purchase through an entity called Capital Scene Unlimited, of which he and his brother Robert are directors. The deal was completed in February.
If the development goes ahead, it will be the biggest that Waters has carried out since he sold his controlling stake in Beauparc Utilities, a waste management company, to Macquarie, an Australian investment bank, in a €1.4 billion deal in 2021. Coman de Burca, director of Horan Rainsford Architects, announced on LinkedIn that his firm had been appointed as the designated architects for the scheme.
It is understood that the 1.18-hectare site will include 270 apartments and 320 student bedrooms. A fitness centre, landscaped courtyard and rooftop terrace will be among the facilities.
Castlethorn bought Merrion House in 2005 as part of a €50 million deal from Bank of Ireland’s asset management arm.
The purchase by Waters is the latest in a long line of acquisitions by the Meath businessman.
Among them are a building on Grafton Street, the Royal Hibernian Way complex on Dawson Street and the Grafton hotel.
City Quarter Capital II, an issuer of loan notes investments within the troubled BlackBee group, has appointed a receiver to five nursing home properties in the Aperee Living chain, writes Linda Daly.
The appointment was made over an alleged failure to comply with the terms of loan agreements.
In 2018, City Quarter Capital II provided loans to five homes in the Aperee portfolio at Callan, Co Kilkenny; Bantry, Belgooly and Conna in Co Cork; and Ballinasloe in Co Galway.
The homes in Callan and Ballinasloe were closed earlier this year after the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) cancelled their registration.
Receiver Gerard Murphy said that the residents and staff of the homes that were operational would be his “first priority” and the homes would remain open. He will move to sell the two properties that are no longer openl.
Last November, David O’Shea, who founded both BlackBee and Aperee Living, announced the healthcare company was to be sold to a group of investors, led by the nursing home chain’s former chief executive Paul Kingston.
Last week Colin Farquharson of EY, the joint liquidator of BlackBee Investments, a separate O’Shea venture, moved to wind up City Quarter Capital II. The Corporate Enforcement Authority also secured court orders to compel City Quarter Capital II to file, within four months, accounts for four years to the end September 2023.
The CRS Group, a specialist refrigeration company backed by boutique private equity company Renatus Capital, has been sold, writes Brian Carey.
Coolworld Rentals, which has operations in six countries in northwest Europe, is to buy the Co Meath-based company for an undisclosed sum.
CRS provides portable cold-storage units to companies across a wide range of industries in the UK and Ireland that require extra, on-site, temperature-controlled storage space.
Renatus first invested in the company four years ago, backing brothers John and Patrick Tyrrell in the expansion of the business. CRS was founded by their father, Paul Tyrrell.
Under the deal, the brothers will become shareholders in the Coolworld Rentals Group and continue in leadership positions in the business.
Backed by Arcus Infrastructure Partners, Coolworld provides refrigeration rentals to a wide range of industrial end markets, including food, pharmaceutical, chemical, cold chain logistics and facility management customers.
With the acquisition of CRS, Coolworld will establish a strong base of operations in the UK and Ireland. CRS has facilities in Summerhill, Co Meath, and Liverpool.
CRS had sales of €15.7 million in 2022, the last year for which accounts are available in the Companies Office. It made profits of €3.5 million. CRS is Renatus’s second exit, following the sale of burrito bar chain Boojum last year.