Seán Dunne (businessman)

Seán Dunne (born 1954) is an Irish businessman and property developer. He is sometimes referred to as "Baron of Ballsbridge" because of his ambitious development project in the Ballymun towers redevelopment project He lives in the US after leaving Dublin after the property collapse of 2007 to 2011. He was born in County Carlow, Ireland.

In a rare interview, given to the U.S. paper The International Herald Tribune in January 2009, Seán Dunne commented "if the banking crisis continues I could be considered insolvent."

As of November 2010, Seán Dunne faces difficulties regarding a multi-million dollar property in an exclusive estate in Greenwich, Connecticut; US officials have ordered work on the property to cease as the owners have exceeded the scope of their planning permission. Sean Dunne publicly denies any claim to the property in question.

In July 2011, the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) appointed receivers to some properties controlled by Dunne. One of the properties included in the receivership is Hume House in Ballsbridge, which he bought in 2006 for €130 million.

As of March 2012, Dunne faces the prospect of bankruptcy after he agreed to court orders directing him to repay more than €185 million to the National Asset Management Agency. In 2013, Dunne filed for Chapter seven bankruptcy in the state of Connecticut in the United States where he has been resident since the failure of his development in Ballsbridge. Dunne lodged the action on Friday, 29 March 2013; he estimated his assets at between EUR 777 786 and EUR 7.77 million EUR, whilst his liabilites exceed EUR 390 million. His creditors could thus receive as little as two percent of what he owes them. Dunne commented, "I can always say to anyone that we did our best and came up short but now we move on".

In 1990, Dunne was involved with the development of lands at St Helens in Booterstown, Dublin through Berland Homes company, of which he was managing director. St Helens was the former headquarters for the Christian Brothers in Ireland. The main house is now a Radisson hotel. Prices for the homes at the time were priced at between £90,000 for a two-bedroom bungalow and £250,000 for a five bedroom home with conservatory. After higher stamp duty rates were introduced in September 1990, Berland was forced to reduce the price of houses by up to 10% in order to increase sales.

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Wikipedia