Land Development Agency pays Nama €44m for north Dublin land with scope for 2,300 homes

The Land Development Agency (LDA) has completed the purchase for €44 million of lands at Clongriffin in north Dublin with planning in place for more than 1,800 homes on 11.1 hectares and the potential to deliver a total of more than 2,300 affordable and social units across its entire 13.2 hectares.

The State-controlled LDA stepped in to acquire the lands in question from the State’s National Asset Management Agency (Nama) earlier this year following a near two-year process in which the larger portion of the site, known as Project Capital North, failed to secure a buyer.

Project Capital North came close to being sold to Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore for about €45 million last year, or some €5 million less than the €50 million that had been sought when it was brought to the market in November 2021. That deal did not proceed, however, after the developer pulled back in the face of rising interest rates and a spike in building costs.

While the LDA says the development of the Project Capital North site and the adjoining Barina lands will be the biggest single State housing project in decades involving cost-rental, affordable-purchase and social housing, planning permission for the vast majority of the development has been in place since 2019.

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With the approval for 1,823 homes involving four planning permissions secured by Project Capital North’s long-standing owner, Gerry Gannon’s Gannon Properties, due to expire in December 2024, the LDA will need to move quickly to take advantage of it.

The adjoining Barina site, which has the potential to accommodate up to 500 homes, was previously subject to successful planning applications, which have now lapsed.

The LDA, which is headed by Nama’s former chief financial officer, John Coleman, says it intends to prioritise the development of two apartment blocks to accelerate the delivery of more than 400 homes on the Project Capital North lands. It also intends to reassess and potentially seek new planning permission for the rest of the site to include new amenities, green space and community facilities.

The LDA says it has initiated the process of appointing a contractor to develop these initial apartment blocks on Project Capital North, with construction likely to begin in September 2024. It is expected that the first homes will be delivered in 2026.

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The entire site is located next to Clongriffin railway station in Dublin 13 and both pieces of land are zoned for residential use in Dublin City Council’s local area plan. Clongriffin is located about 12km to the northeast of Dublin city centre and sits within a short drive of Dublin Airport and the M1 and M50 motorways.

Commenting on the completion of the deal, Mr Coleman said: “This is a significant strategic purchase by the LDA and a major development for the provision of State-owned affordable housing.

The purchase has involved an upfront financial cost to the LDA of around €19,000 per home, which is low in comparison to the overall delivery cost. We are fully confident that the site’s potential to deliver a high level of housing and to allow the creation of a new well-served and vibrant community means we can absorb this cost and still deliver on our remit to deliver affordable and social housing.”

Mr Coleman said the LDA, with its “delivery pipeline of over 8,800 homes”, is “on course to become one of the largest home builders in the country”.

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