Another phase of the protracted housing development on the huge Cherrywood site at Cabinteely in south Dublin gets under way today when bookings are taken for 40 apartments and duplex units which are due to be completed by next summer.
Prices will start at £149,950 for two-bedroom apartments, £175,000 for three-bedroom units and £180,000 for three-bedroom duplex units.
The Druid Valley development has been held up by a series of almost endless delays over the last nine years.
The 160-acre site on the edge of the Bray road is one of the largest stretches of land zoned for housing in south Dublin.
Despite the pent-up demand for new homes in the area, only 107 houses and apartments have been completed to date.
But with the roadway system now in place, and a new marketing campaign being mounted, development activity is due to be accelerated over the coming months. The Co Wexford-based house-builders William Neville & Sons have secured planning permission for 80 apartments and duplex units, half of which will be offered for sale today through Ross McParland's Bray office.
These units will form part of a courtyard setting to be known as Gleann na Ri, which will have 170 homes in nine detached three-storey blocks. Ross McParland says that the "pre-construction" prices now available are easily the lowest in south Dublin. Two-bedroom apartments with 660 sq ft on the ground floor will cost from £149,950 to £155,000. Three-bedroom garden level apartments with 890 sq ft will range from £175,000 to £180,000, while three-bedroom duplex homes with 1,080 sq ft will be priced from £180,000 to £185,000.
The largest three-bedroom duplex units with 1,310 sq ft have a price tag of £210,000. All the units will have either a private patio or a terrace area. The selling agents say that a particularly high specification has been adopted for the homes, including teak double-glazed windows, natural gas radiator heating and live-flame gas fires in the livingrooms.
An extensive landscaping programme has been drawn up for the courtyard and garden areas. There will be no extra charge for car-parking in a designated cobblelocked area.
William Neville has given Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council the option of buying 11 of the homes at discount prices. The offer is likely to be accepted and the houses bought on a shared ownership basis between the local authority and low-income earners.
Nevilles will inevitably seek a higher housing density for much of the remaining 160 acres yet to be be built on, given the immense shortage of development land in south Dublin in particular.
