Dublin 4 scheme offers swish apartments for €9.5m

Thirteen apartments in what has been hailed as one of Dublin’s best contemporary residential developments are to be offered for sale in one lot on the instructions of Nama.

Agent Hooke & MacDonald is guiding €9.5 million for the last remaining unsold homes in the 80-apartment development at Shrewsbury Square on Sandymount Avenue in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

Developers Sebastian Devlin and Johnny Burns of Woodgreen Property had the good fortune to sell most of the homes at boom-time prices.

Penthouse purchase

The luxurious scheme was launched only months before the 2008 property crash and attracted wealthy investors and a string of couples downsizing, including broadcaster Gay Byrne and his wife, Kathleen Watkins.

A Dublin businessman who bought one of the large three-bedroom penthouses for €2.5 million took a hit when he offloaded it early in 2013 for €1.35 million.

The convenience and privacy offered by Shrewsbury Square also appeals to former president Mary Robinson and her husband Nick, who are renting one of the units.

In the latest campaign to sell off the 13 apartments, Hooke & McDonald has put a valuation of about €500,000 on each of the two remaining one-bed units, leaving the remaining 11 two-bedroom homes with a price tag of some €773,000 each.

Each of the apartments comes with a basement car parking space as well as a designated underground storage locker accessed via lifts.

Entry to the apartments is via electronically controlled gates.

There is also a full-time concierge service on site. The apartments are well-proportioned and finished to a high standard with SieMatic kitchens, Villeroy & Boch polished porcelain floor tiles and sanitary ware by the same international company.

The 13 apartments are producing a rent roll of about €440,000 per annum which will give the next owner a return of 4.7 per cent.

Monthly rent

All are exceptionally spacious, including the two-bedroom units which have floor areas of about 900sq ft and attract rents of €2,500-€3,000 per month.

The one-bedroom apartments generally extend to 700sq ft and bring in about €2,000 a month in rent.

The fact that that all 13 apartments are currently rented underlines the appeal of the homes and the popularity of the location within a short walk of the RDS, Herbert Park and some of the best hotels and restaurants in the city.