Clontarf: from €430,000Auburn, an infill development of apartments and houses in Clontarf, is named after the house formerly owned by Clerys' chief Mrs Guiney. Jack Fagan , Property Editor, reports
The wraps come off some of Dublin's most interesting and exciting new homes today when the MKN Property Group releases a mixture of apartments and houses at 118 Howth Road in Clontarf, Dublin 3.
The infill development includes 22 apartments and 16 houses and the units going for sale in the first phase are likely to be snatched up quickly because of the superb location, original design and high quality fit-out.
Agent Hooke & MacDonald will be staffing show units from today. Four two-bedroom apartments with 65.03 sq m (700 sq ft) are priced from €430,000 while 18 larger two-bedroom units with 96.6 to 99.86 sq m (1,040 to 1,075 sq ft) will be available from €500,000 to €595,000.
The terraced houses come in a mix of two and three-storey configurations starting with two-storey, three-bedroom houses with 97.54 sq m (1,050 sq ft) costing from €625,000.
Four bigger three-storey homes with integrated garages and a floor area of 134.7 sq m (1,450 sq ft) will cost from €720,000 while four even larger 143 sq m (1,540 sq ft) three-storey homes will be priced from €785,000 to €830,000. Selling prices include car-parking facilities on site.
A row of more substantial homes will not be released for sale until they are completed in a few months time.
There are many advantages in buying into an infill scheme such as this one: there is a relatively small number of homes in a beautiful mature setting, for example, and 118 Howth Road is close to the city centre.
The new development is named after the large period house on the site, Auburn, which was home up to a few years ago of Mrs Guiney, the 103-year-old principal of Clerys department store in the city. She is now living in a smaller home in Raheny.
Mrs Guiney's former home is to be converted into two apartments. The main entrance to the new apartments and houses will be through a small well-kept housing scheme, Castlecourt.
Leading architects O'Mahony Pike, who handled the design of Auburn, were also responsible for another MKN Property Group development a short distance away at 150 Howth Road. It won a range of architectural awards including the "Development of the Year in 2002" in the Britannia National Home Builder Design awards for the UK and Ireland.
Auburn is an equally impressive scheme, inspired by having the right site with the right characteristics.
There is an attractive four-storey block of apartments at the back of the site looking across the DART line to the beautiful grounds of Clontarf Golf Club. Two small landscaped courtyards between the apartment block and the old house incorporate all of the houses and a few apartments.
The main apartment block has pedestrian walks with a generous collection of plants and shrubs and an orientation that ensures it gets lots of light and sunshine. The apartments are exceptionally well finished and will obviously appeal both to business executives looking for a stylish home and also to locals who want to downsize from larger homes in the area. These buyers are likely to be attracted by the space, the very high quality, low maintenance and the security, according to Ken MacDonald of the selling agent.
The apartments have a superb open-plan living-cum-diningroom with a gas fireplace. One of the unexpected highlights of the apartments has been the inclusion of a winter garden off both the livingroom and the main bedroom.
There are double glazed pine windows and double doors opening into the winter garden, a sunny room focused on the golf course.
Nothing has been spared to make the kitchen one of the best available in a new home. It includes Alno wall and floor units, black polished worktops and the full complement of integrated electrical appliances. There is also a handy serving hatch into the dining area. The kitchen is big enough to double as a breakfastroom.
All the main bedrooms have en suites with underfloor heating and fully-tiled walls and floors. All bedrooms have fine built-in wardrobes by Cawleys.
The houses will have special appeal because of their innovative layout and high spec finish. They also have oodles of space. The smallest version of the three-bed, two-storey homes has a terrific livingroom-cum-diningroom which occupies most of the ground floor and opens out on to decking in the back garden. There is a handy store room and guest toilet off the hall and to the front of the house, a beautifully equipped kitchen with high gloss vanilla wall and floor units similar to those in the apartments.
A full range of electrical appliances, granite worktops and downlighters are also standard fittings.
The impressive fit-out of the house includes oak doors, aluminium hall door with three-point locking system, wiring for home audio visual system and natural gas central heating.
The larger three-bedroom, three-storey homes have an even more appealing layout. There is an open-plan livingroom-cum-diningroom on the ground floor along with the kitchen and a toilet off the hall. At first floor level there is an even more impressive reception room with gas fireplace.
There is a guest toilet at this level along with one of the bedrooms and its own en suite. Two larger bedrooms with en suites - the main bedroom also has a walk-in dressingroom - are located on the second floor.
