Chicago Tribune - Business May 20th, 2007

The Irish are coming. Actually, the Irish are here, Irish investors who apparently have US real estate on their  minds and plenty of money to spend on it. Now some in the real estate community are banking on more of them taking a shine to Chicago.  The wealth coming out of Ireland is mind boggling, said Chicago real estate broker Sean Conlon, who was born in County Kildare.  And the Irish love to own real estate, it is pretty much the national sport.   Having established beach heads on the East Coast, Irish investors have turned their attention here, as evidenced most dramatically by Dublin Developer Garrett Kellerhers  plan to erect the Chicago Spire a 150 story lake front condominium tower.

Kelleher is hardly the first to eye trophy real estate here, however, Anglo Irish Bank Corp, this year financed the  €93 million purchase of 625. N  Michigan Ave. By a syndicate of Irish investors.  An Irish builder is putting up a 35 story condo building in the South Loop.   Irish realty brokerages are partnering with US developers to market a high rise condos while they are still in the drawing boards.

So far, most buyers are of the institutional stripe, typically buying blocks of condos or government commercial sites.  But individuals, empowered by the thriving Irish economy are starting to get noticed in the market place some brokers say, they are certainly out there, said Catherine Steigmann a broker from @Properties who visited Dublin and Limerick last year to promote Lexington Park, a condo development that the Limerick based Chieftain are construction are developing.

Garrett Kelleher is planning to construct America’s tallest building in Chicago, The Spire, Kelleher is quoted as saying.  It is 10 time less expensive than New York, and a better place to live, safer cleaner, culturally rich and attracting more and more high end jobs. I live there and know it.