DevelopmentLand: Capel Developments has emerged as the purchaser of a site for over 500 apartments and houses along the Royal Canal at Ashtown, writes Jack Fagan
One of Dublin's leading property developers, Capel Developments, has emerged as the purchaser of a site for over 500 apartments and houses along the Royal Canal at Ashtown, Dublin 15.
The company is understood to be paying Castlethorn Developments slightly over €70 million for the well-located site of 5 hectares (12.36 acres) alongside Ashtown Railway Station.
Castlethorn has already completed 1,400 apartments at Rathbourne and is selling on the site because of its heavy involvement in several other major residential projects. It is the lead developer at Adamstown, the new town in west Dublin, and recently paid €160 million for 52 acres at the Woodbrook Estate in Shankill.
The proceeds of Rathbourne will be reinvested in these two projects. The decision to sell has apparently been prompted by the need to concentrate company resources, both management and construction, on delivering the huge Adamstown project. Capel Developments was always an obvious buyer for the site, considering that it has already built and sold 250 apartments on part of the same site known as Earlswood. It also has another 200 apartments in the pipeline there.
The latest phase of Rathbourne being handled by Castlethorn is known as the Village and is due to be completed in the coming weeks. It includes 250 apartments and 15 retail units which will accommodate a range of services, including a convenience store to be operated by Spar, restaurants, a bar, pharmacy, hairdressers and flower shop.
Two-bedroom apartments in the scheme are now valued at close to €400,000. Castlethorn also plans to build 350 apartments along the city end of its Rathbourne site, next to where Sean Mulryan's company, Ballymore, is developing another large apartment scheme, Royal Canal Park. Ballymore has already built over 600 apartments there and is expected to bring another 700 homes on to the market over the next few years.
Capel has distinguished itself by a number of top rate developments over the past decade, notably the redevelopment of the former British Embassy at 31-33 Merrion Road in Ballsbridge where the company has retained all 50 apartments and penthouses as a long term investment. The homes, fitted out to an extremely high standard, attract some of the highest rents in the city and are seldom vacant.
The success of that project has also persuaded Capel to retain ownership of all 118 houses and apartments it has built on the site of the former National College of Ireland next to the Gonzaga College at Sandyford Road, Dublin 6.
The company bought the site in 1999 for £14 million (€17.78 million) and had greatly difficulty in securing an acceptable planning permission. The completed project is thought to be worth at least €85 million.
Capel, which is controlled by businessmen Eddie Keegan, Liam Kelly and John O'Connor, also owns Portmarnock Hotel and Country Club which it bought about two years ago. The company has brought the number of bedrooms up to 138 by adding 38 in time for this week's Ryder Cup in the K Club. Portmarnock's 18-hole golf course is highly rated by serious golfers.
Hamilton Osborne King handled the sale of the Ashtown land for Castlethorn.
