A new phase of 40 apartments at the popular Wyckham Point scheme near the Luas and Dundrum Town Centre hit the market this week, writes JACK FAGAN
THOUGH THE new homes market in Dublin has been going through a difficult patch since the early part of this year, a high quality apartment development in Dundrum has managed to buck the trend by cutting prices by over 40 per cent and delivering an improved range of services to residents.
More than 200 homes in Wyckham Point have already been completed and occupied, and though sales at some other apartment schemes around the city have been sticking in these straitened times, joint agents Sherry FitzGerald New Homes and Hooke MacDonald have quietly sold another 45 units at Wyckham Point over the summer months.
A large proportion of the bookings have come from Dundrum residents impressed by the overall standard of the development, including a 24-hour concierge service and a purpose-built gymnasium set among mature woodlands on the edge of an ancient lake.
With work now completed on the final 40 apartments in the present phase of the scheme, the joint agents will be showing these homes to interested parties over the coming weeks.
One-bedroom apartments with floor areas of 43sq m (460sq ft) are priced from €249,000; two-bedroom units with 69–93sq m (753–1,000sq ft) will cost from €339,000; while three-bedroom homes with 93sq m (1,001sq ft) will be selling from €450,000.
Wyckham Point has been particularly popular with young professionals who use the Luas service to get into the city centre. Dundrum Town Centre, with its huge range of restaurants, shops and multiplex cinema, is little more than five minutes walk from the apartments. Wyckham Point has an impressive entrance manned by the concierge. It is promoted as the development with everything and it is hard to think of anything to match it in the same area.
The developers, Dorville Homes and O’Malley Construction Company, have invested heavily in landscaping which gives the overall scheme an immediate appearance of maturity.
All apartments come with a designated car-parking space and there is a private business centre for residents. The gymnasium, hidden away in a lovely wooded setting, was originally used as a marketing suite and has now been fitted out with the latest range of fitness equipment. It also has a sauna, steam room and relaxation room.
Good and all as these facilities are, it is the fit-out in the apartment blocks which impresses most viewers. Entrance lobbies are bright and welcoming with tiled floors and carpeted stairs. There are lifts to all floors, as well as to the basement car-park.
The interiors of the apartments reflect the increasing demand for generous proportions and, to accommodate modern lifestyles, high-spec kitchens and bathrooms have been fitted.
The kitchen units have attractive oak veneer doors and a stainless steel extractor fan along with a polished stone worktop. A range of electrical appliances are already installed, including oven, microwave oven, built-in ceramic hob and an integrated fridge/freezer and dishwasher.
Bathrooms and en suites are equally well finished with fully tiled walls and floors, white suites with chrome fittings, mirror, shelving, storage cupboard, downlighters, shower screen and even underfloor heating.
Another sign of the times is that all apartments have been fitted with an advanced cable network to allow owners receive broadband at various terminals and also to send multi-channel decoder or DVD signals from the livingroom to the main bedroom. And if that is not enough, the livingrooms are also wired for a home cinema sound and for plasma TV. Not bad for Dundrum, eh?
