A site of over 20 acres zoned for a range of town-centre facilities next to The Mill shopping centre in Clondalkin, Co Dublin, will test the strength of the development market in west Dublin when it goes for sale today.
Donal Kelleher of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald is guiding €9 million for the extensive parcel of land which is being sold at the request of Grant Thorton who were appointed receivers by KBC Bank.
The site was originally assembled by Liam Carroll's Zoe Developments, one of the first construction companies to have been bankrupt after the property market crashed in 2007.
At that time Carroll also owned The Mill, a busy shopping centre anchored by Dunnes Stores, which was recently sold as part of a loan book to Varde Partners, a global investment company.
The overall site in this instance, 8.13 hectares (20.1 acres) has a notable frontage of 268m onto Ninth Lock Road and 450m of frontage on to New Nangor Road.
The first phase of the planning permission granted in July 2013, provides for a 3,099sq m (33.357sq ft) development of a supermarket, off- licence, three separate retail units and office accommodation fronting onto Ninth Lock Road.
New owners might well put this planning aside and look for a more comprehensive mixed-use development such as a number of large retail boxes, office building, drive-through fast food outlets, a petrol station and a mixture of houses and apartments A full-scale development can only be embarked on when a new road is built through the site linking Ninth Lock Road with New Nangor Road.
The cost of providing such a road is likely to be in excess of €1.5 million. However the rewards from this expenditure could be quite considerable given that the site is within close proximity to Clondalkin's bustling village centre which has the same broad range of amenities as any thriving town. It is around 10km from the city centre and is served by one of the most frequent Dublin Bus services. Many locals also use the Luas Red Line park-and-ride facility at the Red Cow junction.
Under the South Dublin County Council Development Plan 2010-2016 the site is located in an area zoned “Objective TC” which is defined as “to protect, provide for and/or improve town centre facilities” .
