In just a few short years low- and middle-income workers who have been locked out of the housing market will have the opportunity to buy one of 600 affordable apartments in Pembroke, Dublin 4.
Lest anyone becomes too excited about the prospect of buying into Dublin's embassy belt at a knock-down price, "Pembroke at Dublin 4" is the new name for the former Irish Glass Bottle Company site in Ringsend.
Nama has renamed the old industrial lands beside the Poolbeg incinerator in the city’s east end in an effort to attract developers to bid at least €125 million for an 80 per cent stake in the site.
“Pembroke at Dublin 4 represents an unrivalled and unique development opportunity which offers the prospect of creating a truly visionary urban quarter,” states the glossy sales brochure issued on Friday.
Only the property world’s big-hitters need apply, with Nama stipulating that all bids must be in cash and “non-contingent on third-party debt funding”, something that might resonate with those first-time buyers who find the buyer with a wad of ready cash always trumps their mortgage offer.
However, what should be a beacon of hope to those struggling renters hoping to secure their first permanent home is that a “restrictive covenant” has been included in the tender documents issued by Nama. That ensures two plots of land on the glass bottle site must be reserved for the construction of affordable housing.
Of the 3,500 apartments planned for the site at least 900 must be social and affordable homes, with the larger proportion of these, 600, to be affordable housing.
Some might question why the affordable homes will all be for sale at two specific plots amounting to 2.6 acres of the 37-acre site, instead of peppered throughout the development, but those lucky enough to qualify to the affordable housing scheme are unlikely to care.
