With housing sites in particularly short supply in the south Dublin suburbs, Bord na gCon is set to make a killing from the sale of part of the grounds of Harold's Cross Greyhound Stadium for a development of 81 houses, mostly four-beds.
The 4.86-acre site is likely to make in excess of £7 million when it is auctioned on May 19th through DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and McPeake Auctioneers.
The Dublin 6 site is one of the best located to come on the market in recent years and will be eagerly sought by most of Dublin's leading house-builders. It is in the centre of a mature middle class area, close to two notable squares, Kenilworth and Grosvenor.
The greyhound board has maximised the value of the site by securing planning permission for 81 semi and detached houses, which will range in size from 764 to 1,485 sq ft.
One of the conditions of the sale is that whoever buys the site must develop the houses in accordance with the existing planning permission, according to Peter Lynch of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald.
A selling price of £7 million for the piece of land would equate to a cost of £86,500 for each of the housing sites. The agents have calculated that houses with a floor area of 764 sq ft would probably fetch around £190,000, while homes with 1,150 sq ft could be expected to make at least £220,000.
There is permission for 38 houses with 1,345 sq ft which would surely make at least £260,000 each in today's buoyant market. The largest homes with 1,485 sq ft should easily sell for over £270,000, according to the agents.
Access to the site will be from Harold's Cross Road but there will also be pedestrian entrances off Leinster Lane and Grosvenor Lane.
The money raised by the sale is to be spent on improving greyhound racing facilities at the stadium, including extending the grandstand, building new kennels and providing parking facilities for up to 185 cars.
The upgrading of both Harold's Cross and Shelbourne Park has been one of the priorities of businessman Paschal Taggart since he took over the chairmanship of Bord na gCon.
Funding for further improvements at Shelbourne Park is due to come from the sale of an apartment site on the Ballsbridge end of the grounds.
The board originally planned to seek permission for about 200 apartments but later scaled back the scheme to around 100 units. Dublin Corporation is due to decide shortly whether to allow the development to proceed.
The corporation is also considering a planning application for 280 apartments and houses on the edge of Bushy Park, in Templeogue, Dublin 6W. The scheme is to be undertaken by property developers John Kennedy and the McSharry brothers, Frank, Peter and Liam, who bought the 7.1-acre site by tender from an order of nuns. They paid £14 million for the site - £6 million more than the expected price because of the superb location overlooking one of Dublin's finest parks.
