DevelopmentLand: A religious order has secured over €16 million for a site of 1.26 acres (0.51 hectares) in the Sandymount area of Dublin 4.

Property developer Bryan Cullen has emerged as the purchaser of the site at Gilford Road in Sandymount which has been owned for many years by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa.

Several leading developers were in competition for the plot which was sold by tender through agent Donal O Buachalla.

Two years ago Mr Cullen also bought a well located 3.3-acre apartment site behind Sachs hotel off Morehampton Road in Donnybrook for €20 million from the Carmelite Fathers. He has since begun developing 172 apartments and 14 townhouses at Bloomfield Park which have been selling at prices from €480,000 for one-bedroom units.

The Gilford Road site is particularly well located close to Sandymount village and Ballsbridge. The main access will be off Sandymount Castle Park. There is potential to build about 55 apartments and eight townhouses on the land which currently has a modern two-storey house.

O Buachalla advised builders that similar sites in the Sandymount area, including the 1.5-acre former Teagasc headquarters, had secured densities of around 150 units per hectare.

O Buachalla's prediction that two-bedroom apartments at Gilford Road would be likely to sell for up to €700,000 each may well prove on the optimistic side given that there is a good supply of both new and second-hand homes and more due to come on stream from several other sites in Dublin 4.