Developers and investors involved in the delivery of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) will be interested in the opportunity presented by the sale of a large residence and site adjacent to UCD’s Belfield campus in south Dublin.
Guiding at a price of €10 million through agent Avison Young, the property comprises St Brigid’s Novitiate, a 35-bedroom property of 2,917.68sq m (31,405sq ft) on a mature site of 1.416 hectares (3.5 acres) on Roebuck Road in Clonskeagh. The proceeds of the novitiate’s sale are to be invested by its owners, the Little Sisters of the Poor, elsewhere within the order’s wider 3.76-hectare (9.3-acre) Roebuck Road campus. The nuns intend to remain on site in their house and to continue operating the Holy Family Residence Nursing Home, which is to the front of the campus.
The St Brigid’s Novitiate building and its site are zoned Objective A – Residential with an institutional tag in the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Development Plan 2022-2028, with all mains services available. A feasibility study prepared in advance of the sale by Henry J Lyons Architects and CJ Falconer & Associates suggests the property has the potential to accommodate a purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) scheme comprising about 460 bed spaces across four blocks, including the renovation and extension of the Novitiate building. This property comprises 35 bedrooms on the first and second floors, with potential for expansion. The ground floor includes a variety of spaces, such as reception rooms, offices, diningrooms, a chapel and a library, offering scope for a range of uses.
St Brigid’s Novitiate is just off Roebuck Road in Clonskeagh, 5km from Dublin city centre and near the amenities of Dundrum, Ranelagh and Donnybrook.
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Patrick McLoughlin of Avison Young expects to see strong interest in the property, driven by the combination of the ongoing, acute shortage of student accommodation in Dublin and the location beside UCD’s Belfield campus.
