House-buyers are being offered substantial savings in a major new development being launched this weekend at Lakepoint Park, in Mullingar, Co Westmeath. MKN Properties, are building similar houses at Ridgewood, in Swords, Co Dublin, but because of the extra site and development costs in the Dublin area, it had to charge significantly higher prices.
In Mullingar, Daracom Ltd, an off-shoot of MKN, is releasing 30 three-bedroom and four-bedroom semis in the first phase of what will be one of the largest housing developments in the town in recent years. Three-bedroom semis will start at £107,500 compared with £147,000 in Swords; four-bedroom semis will range from £122,500, as against £168,950 in Ridgewood.
Ken MacDonald of joint selling agents Hooke and MacDonald said he expected more than 50 per cent of the purchasers to come from the Dublin area because of the combination of keen prices and the high quality of the houses. In addition to the two types of semis, there will also be 1,600 sq ft four-bedroom detached houses priced from £160,000. Davitt and Davitt are joint selling agents and showhouses will be on view on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The first Lakepoint houses are expected to be ready for occupation by December, with all 570 units on the site to be completed within three years. Mullingar is around 50 miles from the capital - 45 minutes by car as far as the M50 motorway. A mid-morning drive to the site from Dublin took under an hour. There is a mainline rail service that gets to the city by 8.26 am. Prospective purchasers not from the area will have to weigh commuting time against the undoubted benefits of rural living.
Once there, the lush Westmeath countryside and quiet lakes surrounding Mullingar are a huge attraction. The Royal Canal flows through the centre of the town. The Mullingar site is just off the N4 motorway at the entrance to the town and has the old cut-stone buildings of St Loman's Hospital as a backdrop on two sides. The housing scheme will adjoin Lakepoint Retail and Business Park in an attractive landscaped setting. Fourteen three-bedroom semis, 16 four-bedroom semis and two detached five-bedroom houses will be for sale on Saturday. The smallest at 1,160 sq ft will be the threebed semi. These have half-brick fronts and pebble-dashed side and rear walls, with box bay front windows and pointed gables.
There is a hallway with guest cloakroom leading through to a generous kitchen/ breakfastroom with a utility room off. The cupboards are Shaker-style in maple and a wide window overlooks the garden at the dining end. The main reception room is a bay-windowed sittingroom with attractive figured cast-iron and timber fireplace as standard. The diningroom is through double doors and has glazed doors to the garden. Upstairs, two of the three bedrooms are double; the main room is en suite and all have built-in wardrobes. A window lights the angled landing and the family bathroom has oatmeal coloured tiles as standard. There is good storage in the roof space. As with the Ridgewood scheme, attention to detail is noticeable throughout. Staircases have a waist-height dado rail to break up the vertical line. In the sittingrooms, radiators are split into two to make furniture easier to place. Genuine leaded glass has been used on front door panels and exterior walls have a contrasting brick "soldier course" running through the redbrick. Fireplaces and good quality tiles on kitchen and bathroom walls are standard in all house types.
Four bedroom semi-detached houses at 1,330 sq ft cost from £122,500. The integral garage can be converted to a family room at an extra cost. These have a door-and-a-half leading from the hall to the sittingroom. This has a wide bay window, split radiators and a timber fireplace with painted tile insert. Double doors connect with the diningroom, which has glass doors to an outside terrace. The kitchen/breakfastroom has a range of oak units with Italian wall tiles and a large utility room with cupboards. The family room in the converted garages is opposite the sittingroom. There are two double and two single bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom. Three of the bedrooms have wardrobes and the main bedroom is en suite.
There are two 1,600 sq ft four-bedroom detached houses in this phase, priced from £160,000. Gardens are fenced with a wall to the rear boundary. Open-plan front lawns will be landscaped and back gardens seeded. The driveways are cobblelocked.
The entire scheme is designed around a central neighbourhood park with its own private lake and smaller landscaped greens will link the cul-de-sacs. Existing old chestnut trees around the development are to be preserved and a traditional stone entrance to Lakepoint Park will blend with established buildings in the immediate area.
