Garrett Kelleher

Who is Garrett Kelleher?

Garrett Kelleher is an Irish businessman. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of Shelbourne Development, a Dublin development and real estate firm. Kelleher is the owner of the Irish football club St Patrick's Athletic FC and a significant shareholder in Dolmen Securities, a Dublin based regulated stock brokerage, investment advisor and corporate finance house. Kelleher is a former Chicago resident, who currently lives in Ireland. Educated at Belvedere College, he first moved to the United States in 1978 to attend California University of Pennsylvania on a tennis scholarship. He moved back to Ireland to attend Trinity College Dublin from 1980 to 1983. Years later, he moved to Chicago and started a painting business that eventually had a crew of about 120 workers. He kept the business for about 10 years.

His first development was a remodel of a building at 1655 W. Cortland Street in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood.

Kelleher was a commercial painting contractor in Chicago in the 1990s. He used the money he made in Chicago to participate in real estate construction in Ireland and closed his Chicago business as his Irish interests claimed more of his time. In 1995 Kelleher left Chicago, to return to Ireland where he founded Shelbourne Development.²