INTEREST FROM ABROAD
Irish see green in Chicago real estate
By Mary Umberger
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 20, 2007
Castleroc Estates, a brokerage in Dublin, recently brought in buyers from Ireland who bought more than 20 units at Lincoln Park 2520, where the $850- to $1,300-a-square-foot prices put it in the top tier of new construction in Chicago.
John Murphy, principal of Ricker-Murphy Development, which is developing the building, initially presumed that the Castleroc clients were strictly investors.
"We did get some investors buying from the group, but we also had people buying much larger units for their own personal use -- second and third homes," Murphy said.
Dublin resident Gerry Danaher bought one of them, plus a unit at Century Tower in the Loop. Danaher, who once lived in Chicago, said he's toying with the idea of using one of the condos as a second home.
Apart from his affection for Chicago, he said he's buying here because Ireland's residential real estate market is slowing after a phenomenal run.
"There's not a lot left to go, in terms of capital appreciation," Danaher said. "Irish people are looking abroad. [Interest in Chicago] is a continued evolution for the investor looking overseas."
Real estate in general took off in Ireland about a decade ago after generous tax policies enticed major international corporations to set up shop there. Employment soared. Home sales boiled over.
"The Irish bought property with a vengeance," Conlon said. "Since the early 1990s, [residential] appreciation of 10 to 20 percent a year was pretty common, and more.
"Anyone who owned land 10 years ago got rich. People who bought [farmland] for $50,000 were selling it for $5 million."
Though the residential boom seems to be tapering off -- house prices in Ireland were flat in February for the first time in four years -- interest in commercial investment is thriving.
Conlon, who founded Chicago's Sussex & Reilly real estate brokerage, figures the timing is right for the Irish to begin directing more money here.
The softening U.S. home market represents an automatic exchange-rate incentive, with the euro recently hitting a two-year high against the dollar, he said.
He has launched a new joint venture with a Dublin-based property development company that will provide private-equity funding for real estate investment in America, particularly in Chicago, Conlon said. He is working on deals to sell 100 condos in two Chicago projects to Irish investors.
Conlon said it's Chicago's turn.
"[Irish property investment] happened in Florida first because historically the Irish vacationed there," he said. "Then it spread to places where there are big Irish populations, like Boston. New York is a particularly sexy investment, along with Barbados, because there's a big Irish population that winters down there.
