RedevelopmentScheme: A €20 million development in the heart of Sandymount village in Dublin 4 is designed to entice people to shop and socialise in the village and "create a bit of life in the evenings as well", according to the developer, Kieran Mulligan, himself a local resident.
The development, beside the Tesco supermarket which is to be upgraded, will be comprised of an upmarket pub (to be called Mulligans of Sandymount), two retail units, 372sq m (4,000sq ft) of offices and eight apartments. The ground floor is around 325sq m (3,500sq ft); the apartments on the top are recessed slightly so that the front appears to be in keeping with the two-storey buildings that surround it.
The pub will be at the premium end of the market, according to Mulligan. "We're targeting the over 25s. We'll be serving wine by the glass as opposed to the bottle. It will be a mix of traditional and contemporary. There will be a glazed wall to the smoking area.
"There's a great need for something like this in the village. The important thing is to get the right guy to run it," he says.
The one-bed apartments will be 60sq m (650sq ft), two-beds 84sq m (900sq ft) and there will be one 102sq m (1,100sq ft) unit. All will have balconies and access to the roof garden.
Site clearance started last August and the development will be completed this summer. The ground floor was poured in December.
Parts of Sandymount are below sea level and the site was very sandy and wet. The builder is David Flynn, a Waterfordman like Mulligan, and has experience of dealing with sites, such as the Sandymount one, from his work in Waterford.
It is two-and-a-half years since Mulligan bought the first premises. He consulted with neighbouring business people and the residents' association, and agreed changes in advance of doing any work. "When I opened Café Java in Sandymount I was nervous; I wasn't with any of the others." He also owns the complete Café Java chain.
None of the development is for sale now. "I decided I would retain this development. I could have sold it on and made a fortune, but I live in the village so I thought I would keep it and do a top-quality job on it," Mulligan says.
The office space is the only part he might ever consider selling, but that would be in the future.
"It has to stack up and pay for itself, but it's as much to me as getting it right for the village. It's not about who pays the highest rent but that the people fit in." This is because he regards Sandymount as a real village. "If you look at the other so-called villages in Dublin, Sandymount doesn't have a main road running through it. The coast road skirts it. We don't have a four-lane road running through it."
Local estate agent Nigel Bennett says this is the biggest development in the 11 years he has been in business in Sandymount. "I think it will be a welcome boost to the village. He is doing a very sensitive, tasteful development and it will benefit the village, residents and business users."
Bennett says there is constant demand for retail units in Sandymount. He considers Tesco's plans to redevelop its store were prompted by Mulligan's development of his site.
On leases, Mulligan says that the Sandymount Travel agency was put on the market last summer and got an offer not far from the asking price of €70,000.
There is very strong demand for private rented accommodation in the area; Bennett has one person who deals exclusively with that.
Current residential developments in the area include Shrewsbury Square, an upmarket apartment building on the site of the former Teagasc headquarters on Sandymount Avenue.
