Dublin docklands site for student accommodation fetches €20m

A new development company formed by UK and Irish investors is to proceed with the construction of a substantial residential complex for students beside the Point Village in the north Dublin docklands.

The consortium has outbid about half a dozen competitors, paying more than €20 million – more than €2 million above the guide price – for the well-located site of 2.38 acres (0.96 of a hectare) with planning permission for 935 student bed spaces.

It is located next to a Luas station and was sold by Declan McDonald of receiver PwC on behalf of Wintertide Ltd and two adjoining land owners, the National Asset Management Authority and CIÉ.

The sale comes at a time when about a dozen similar residential schemes are either under way or in the pipeline. The off-campus projects under construction include developments in Gardiner Street, Dorset Street and Blackpits which alone will provide about 1,300 bed spaces. The largest single scheme of about 2,000 spaces will be at Grangegorman to cater for students attending the newly relocated DIT.

High-spec scheme

The high-spec scheme planned for Point Village, designed by TP Bennett Architects, who specialise in student accommodation, will include two seven-storey blocks with a mix of student clusters containing between three and eight bed spaces as well as twin and single study units.

One of the two blocks will accommodate 589 bed spaces, while the other building will have 346 bed spaces as well as 866sq m of retail floor space designed to attract interest from retailers and cafe and restaurant operators. There will also be a further 462m of floor space set aside for “enterprise and community use”.

Donal Kellegher of agents Cushman & Wakefield, who handled the sale of the site, says the planned student facility would benefit from a new street under construction between North wall Quay and Sheriff Street as well as the planned pedestrianised bridge linking North Wall Quay and the south docklands.

Dublin universities provide on-campus accommodation for only 6,000 of the 79,000 student population. The Higher Education Authority has forecast that third-level student numbers in Ireland are likely to increase from 168,000 in 2014 to 193,000 in 2024.