Developer Sean Dunne Buggers Off To America

By Dearbhail McDonald and Emmet Oliver
Saturday November 06 2010
DEVELOPER Sean Dunne has quit Ireland and is living in an exclusive private community in Greenwich, Connecticut, which is manned 24 hours a day by security personnel to protect its privileged residents.

The Irish Independent has learnt that Mr Dunne left the country to pursue business interests in New York and has since become the newest resident in Belle Haven, a secure residential compound that is home to hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II and singer Diana Ross.

The former heads of IBM, Tom Watson and Louis Gerstner, the former CEO of Xerox, Peter McCollough and the former chairman of Goldman Sachs, John Weinberg, also live in the estate.

Mr Dunne, dubbed the Baron of Ballsbridge, became the poster boy for the Celtic Tiger's excess in 2004 when he splashed out €1.4m for a 14-day party aboard the yacht Christina O to mark his wedding to former Sunday Independent gossip journalist Gayle Killilea.

But he is nursing serious debts after paying €380m for the Jurys and Berkley Court hotels in Ballsbridge as part of a €1bn plan to redevelop the upmarket Dublin suburb.

On Sunday, Mr Dunne, Ms Killilea and their three young children went "trick or treating" on Bush Avenue, where the family has taken up residence in the grounds of the Belle Haven Yacht Club, one of the world's most exclusive private members' clubs, where annual membership is reportedly $250,000 (€176,000).

Mr Dunne, who did not respond to a series of requests from the Irish Independent about his business plans in the US, is believed to be engaged in a number of projects in New York with a high profile NAMA-bound Irish developer.

Each year Paul Tudor Jones II, who founded the Tudor Investment Corporation and has an estimated net worth of $3bn (€2.1bn), holds an annual Halloween party at his Belle Haven home for the residents of Greenwich, where the average home sells for $2,208,000 (€1,557,000).

Neighbourhood

But the party was cancelled this year owing to "safety and security concerns of the neighbourhood". The cancellation sent shockwaves through Greenwich and was even reported in 'The New York Times'.

Frank Creamer, the manager of the Belle Haven Land Company, confirmed that the party had instead been held privately at the yacht club, restricted to members and Belle Haven residents only.

Mr Creamer said the value of the homes in Belle Haven was on a par with other areas in Greenwich but that residents valued the privacy the secure community offered.

"It is a private area; people with means live here," he said, adding that details of the residents' identities could not be disclosed.

Mr Dunne earlier this year surrendered a major stake in his Ballsbridge hotel site. Two companies controlled by Ulster Bank, Dutch lender Rabobank and the UK unit of the fallen Icelandic bank Kaupthing have taken holdings in the sites of three hotels.

However, one of Mr Dunne's companies has agreed to continue renting the sites. Mr Dunne could be facing major financial pressure because he is likely to have personally guaranteed some of the borrowings he has taken out.

Mr Dunne's company, D4 Hotels, runs the Jurys and Berkeley Court properties and Mr Dunne often socialises there, particularly during rugby matches, with his wife.

A number of loans, not connected to these hotels, are believed to have gone into NAMA in later tranches although Mr Dunne is not believed to be in the top 10 of developers.

The last set of accounts published for Mr Dunne's main company, Mountbrook Homes, showed it was losing almost half a million euro a year.

Mr Dunne is among a number of former boom poster boys who have relocated out of Ireland.

Derek Quinlan, a former tax inspector turned international property investor, has also quit Ireland with his family to take up permanent residence in Switzerland