Docklands: from €270,000: The first 50 apartments in a 200-unit contemporary development in Dublin city centre hit the market this week. Jack Fagan, Property Editor, reports
Another new apartment development in the Dublin docklands is being launched off plans today. Agents Hooke & MacDonald will be taking bookings for the first of the 200 apartments to be built alongside the Royal Canal with an entrance on Ossory Road, a quiet road just off North Strand Road.
While other dockland developments - like Spencer Dock and Gallery Quay - have attracted a significant number of investors, the latest scheme to be known as Crosbies Yard is more likely to appeal to first-time buyers looking for a convenient city centre location.
Prices for one-bedroom apartments with 50 sq m (540 sq ft) will be mainly from €270,000 while two-bedroom units will generally sell from €320,000 to €380,000. These will have floor areas ranging from 63-80 sq m (675-860 sq ft).
Apart from being within easy walking distance of the city centre, the new development will be even closer to a number of important transport hubs including Connolly Station, Busáras and Tara Street DART station.
Crosbies Yard is being developed by the docklands businessman Harry Crosbie who has an intimate knowledge of the area and its people. He has been one of the champions of the rejuvenation of the docks where most of the new homes in the city and thousands of jobs are due to be created over the next decade.
Crosbies Yard has been designed by architects Scott Tallon Walker to sit comfortably among the many new schemes planned for the docklands. The apartments will be developed around a courtyard, using the best contemporary designs and the most appropriate materials.
The layout of the apartments has been dictated by a desire to maximise space and light. For this reason, most of the apartments will have a dual aspect orientation, occupying the full depth of the various buildings. This will also mean that only two apartments at each level will be serviced by a lift and stairs.
The blocks to the east and west of the site will have livingrooms looking inwards over the heavily landscaped podium garden while the south-facing block will be focused over the Royal Canal which is to be widened to complement a planned linear park that will adjoin it. An eight-foot tall bronze sculpture of a "man with stick" by artist Patrick O'Reilly will stand in the central courtyard. Mr Crosbie has also undertaken to donate the proceeds of the sale of a fully furnished two-bedroom apartment to the Irish Hospice Foundation.
Hooke & MacDonald is promising high quality fitted kitchens complete with a full range of electrical appliances. All bedrooms will have bathrooms and most apartments will have sun balconies. Parking in the basement car park will cost an extra €25,000.
While the main pedestrian access will be from Ossory Road, cars will enter and leave the development via a ramp midway along the West Road boundary. The development will also include a fourth block for commercial use placed along the narrower northern boundary of the site.
Hooke & MacDonald staff will be taking bookings for the first 50 apartments at a sales centre in Harry's Bar in the Point Depot today, tomorrow and through the weekend.
