A development of apartments by the sea priced from €290,000 up to €1.25m will be sold from plans from today. Frances O'Rourke reports
Fifty apartments on the seafront in Dún Laoghaire are being launched from plans today at prices ranging from €290,000 for ground floor one-bedroom units up to €1.25 million for three-bedroom penthouses with sea views.
Harbour View, the development of 118 apartments, couldn't be more conveniently located: it is beside the town hall on the coast road, opposite Dún Laoghaire marina and the town's DART station.
It is being sold through joint agents Sherry FitzGerald New Homes and Lisney.
This is the first major development to be built on the seafront in the town for a few years - the Pavilion, opposite the town hall on the other side of Marine Road, is now four years old.
Harbour View has the potential to have the same positive impact on the seafront as that scheme, a major addition to the town's facilities with restaurants, coffee shops and the fashionable Forty Foot bar, as well as the Pavilion theatre.
The new development, being built on land formerly owned by Dún Laoghaire Harbour commissioners, will include two office block and a mix of retail outlets at street level. A handsome listed building built in 1820 is being refurbished and handed back to the Harbour Commissioners.
Work on the site sandwiched between the car-park of St Michael's private hospital and the town hall is due to begin next week, and first apartments will be completed by autumn/winter 2006 - giving people who buy off plans with a 10 per cent deposit 18 months to find the balance of the purchase price.
Buyers are expected include a mix of people trading down from big homes in the area (64 per cent of Pavilion buyers were apparently in that category) and young professionals.
Harbour View is an L-shaped development in which 12 apartments will face the sea directly; 106, the majority of the units, will be located in a long building parallel to the hospital car-park. These are dual aspect, with bedrooms looking into a landscaped inner courtyard and livingrooms facing towards the sea.
Agent Conor O'Gallagher of Sherry FitzGerald New Homes says that from the third storey up, these units will all have views of the sea diagonally across Dublin Bay, looking in the direction of the Pigeon House.
The best views will be from units in the bend of the L, and of course apartments will be priced accordingly. One-bed units of 48.4-56.5 sq m (525-608 sq ft) costing from €290,000 are located at ground level at the back of the scheme; the average price for one-beds in the scheme will be €320,000-plus.
The site slopes up quite sharply from the coast road, so it is credible that most of the units will have a sea view: the complex of buildings across the road - the marina, the Royal Irish Yacht Club, the DART station and ferry terminal - are all below the level of the road, so don't obstruct views.
The apartments are a mix of one, two and three-beds: 67.2-97 sq m (723-1,044 sq ft) two-beds will cost from €390,0000, 99.7-118 sq m (1,073-1,270 sq ft) three-beds from €490,000; two-bedroom penthouses of 67.5-80.8 sq m (727-870 sq ft) will cost from €440,000, while 91.3-106.3 sq m (983-1,144 sq ft) three-bed penthouses will cost from €650,000 to €.25 million.
All apartments will have a balcony or terrace big enough to hold a table and chairs. Inside, apartments will have kitchens that include integrated fridge freezers, dishwasher, washer/dryer plus hobs and oven. Bedrooms will have fitted wardrobes, while bathrooms will have heated towel rails and underfloor heated mats.
About two-thirds of the units will have floor-to-ceiling windows; the windows in all the units will be timber on the inside, aluminium on the outside.
Underground car-parking, accessed from Crofton Road, is included in the price. There will be a gated pedestrian entrance at the back of the scheme.
A model of the development will be on view in Lisney's Dún Laoghaire office, where selling from plans starts today.
