The first new apartment development to come on the market in Dublin this year goes for sale today in Inchicore. Prices start at £130,000 for one-bedroom units. Catherine Flanagan of the Lisney agency is handling sales.
The 14 new homes in the River Court scheme are located in two three-storey and four-storey blocks wedged between Emmet Road and the Camac River. The main block is focused on the fast-flowing river and a public park which runs down to it.
At a time when apartment prices are continuously rising, Winton Developments has pitched its prices at a realistic level, which should ensure an early sell out.
There is a good mixture of apartment sizes and layouts with six one-bedroom units and the same number of two-bedroom homes. The remaining two are three-bedroom duplex apartments.
The one-bedroom flats range in size from 425 sq ft to 490 sq ft and are priced from £130,000 to £135,000. Two-bedroom apartments have between 550 and 615 sq ft and will cost from £140,000 to £150,000. One of the three-bedroom homes has a floor area of 700 sq ft and a price tag of £160,000. The other has 995 sq ft and is available at £180,000.
One of the advantages of the development is that all the apartments have been completed so buyers will be able to see exactly what they are getting for their money.
For one thing, the apartments are probably cheaper than in other schemes launched in the city centre in recent months. The general standard of finish is also top notch and prices include car-parking spaces in the basement car-park.
Most of the apartments have open-plan livingrooms-cum-kitchens, with the kitchen area at one side of the main living space - in some cases the kitchen is tucked around a corner, out of sight of the sitting area.
The open-plan design contrasts with the majority of city centre apartment schemes which tend to have tiny kitchens entered through open archways from the livingrooms. Two of the Inchicore apartments also have separate kitchens, one of them big enough to double as a breakfastroom.
All the livingrooms have full-length windows, which keep them bright and cheerful.
The overall impression is of well-designed units. Each of them has a good-sized reception room and the attractive kitchen areas have high quality Shaker-style presses. Most of the homes have balconies and five of them with a duplex layout also have excellent roof terraces, which should prove particularly popular in the long summer evenings. One end of the roof terrace looks down to St Patrick's soccer grounds and an adjoining commercial complex, which apparently is earmarked for another apartment development.
The entrance to River Court is beside the workmen's club, near the junction with Tyrconnel Road. The homes are within a few minutes' drive of the Naas Road and the Lucan bypass and less than 10 minutes of Heuston Station.
