Almost 400 houses and apartments were under construction in estates across Dublin city towards the end of 2014.
A snapshot of residential construction activity in the capital in November showed six large housing estates of more than 20 homes and seven smaller development of up to 20 units had builders on site.
A total of 397 homes were at various stages of completion; of these, 229, more than half, were apartments. The figures refer to estates of five or more homes and do not include one-off houses or small infill developments.
The largest development is on the site of the former UCD veterinary college in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, where almost 100 apartments are being built on what was the most expensive site per acre in the country at the time of its purchase in 2005.
Nama
Developer
Ray Grehan
bought the site in November 2005 for €171.5 million or the the equivalent of €84 million an acre. Nama stepped in and the 2.02-acre site was sold in mid-2013 to the Comer Group, the property investment business owned by Galway-born Luke and
Brian Comer
, for about €22.5 million.
On the other side of the city in Clontarf the second largest development under way was in the final stages of completion last November with around 60 apartments being built on the site of the former Dollymount House. The pub was bought by John McKeon in 2006 for close to €15 million, but it was more than 2½ years later that the McKeon family company, MKN Developments, secured permission from An Bord Pleanála for the development.
Finglas site
The largest housing development under way is on the site of the former Omega Teknika pharmaceutical plant in Finglas. Almost 50 houses are being built on the site which was rezoned for residential development in 2012.
Back on the south side, 36 houses are being built on Orwell Park at the former home of one of the most well-known entrepreneurs of the 20th century, William Martin Murphy, owner of Clerys, the Imperial Hotel and the Dublin United Tramway Company. Murphy was leader of Dublin's employers during the 1913 Lockout. Mill Hill Missionaries sold Dartry House and the adjoining 3.9 acres for €30 million in May 2005 to Eugene Renehan's Walthill Properties.
Other smaller developments under way include 14 houses at the former Winfield Motors site on Maxwell Road, in Rathmines; 19 houses on Grace Park Road in Drumcondra; 16 apartments and three houses on Bluebell Road in Dublin 12; and 15 houses and four apartments at Gateway Crescent in Ballymun.
