Canary Wharf SIte Sold On at Loss

Property developer Bernard McNamara and investors assembled by stockbroker Davy have taken a €45 million hit on a site in London.

McNamara’s Grattan Property bought the 0.87-acre site in Canary Wharf in 2007 for €65 million with backing from Davy investors, and planned to develop a €500 million, 45storey building called 1 Park Place.Full planning permission was granted for the development,which would have been London’s second-tallest building.

However, the site was acquired last Friday for just £17.5 million (€19.8 million) by the Canary Wharf Group. The site adjoins land already owned by the group and was ‘‘a significant opportunity for future development’’, with planning consent for almost 1.5 million square feet of development, it said.

The sale of Park Place appears to bring to an end the relationship between McNamara and Davy, who also joined forces on the €412 million buyout of the Irish Glass Bottle site in Dublin.The Davy investors last week successfully sued McNamara for €62.5 million, prompting the developer to declare he was ‘‘broke’’.