DevelopmentSite: A 0.55-acre site in Sandycove with permission for 15 apartments indicates that the developer has paid around €533,000 per unit, writes Jack Fagan.
A record price for an apartment site has been set at Sandycove in Co Dublin where a developer has paid the equivalent of about €533,000 per unit.
The corner site of 0.55 of an acre at 40 Elton Park has planning permission for 15 two and three-bedroom apartments and was sold at a Hamilton Osborne King auction for €6.65 million - well above the guide price of €5.8 million. Neither the purchaser nor the under-bidder are known in the Dublin property industry.
The high value sites in Sandycove are a long way ahead of those in Lower Camden Street, in the south inner city, where an infill site with planning permission for 22 apartments and 228 sq m (2,454 sq ft) of ground floor retail space was sold last week through CB Richard Ellis Gunne for over €5 million. The price works out at just over €200,000 per apartment.
The same agency has just closed the sale of a site of almost one acre at Leopardstown Road in Sandyford for €4.75 million. The likelihood is that permission will be forthcoming for 40 apartments and, if this turns out to be the case, these will have a value of about €120,000 each.
The selling price in Sandycove equates to €433,000 for each apartment but, when stamp duty and an estimated €700,000 is paid to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Co Council in lieu of the social and affordable housing scheme, the overall price rises to €533,000.
The developer will also have to pay 13.5 per cent VAT on the selling prices of the apartments. Development and fit-out costs are generally running at around €2,153 per sq m (€200 per sq ft) - but this figure may go higher because of the cost of installing an underground car-park.
The value of the Sandycove site has risen rapidly since it was sold at a Lisney auction in June 1999 for €1.96 million. At that stage there was a bungalow on the site and the consortium who bought it subsequently got planning permission to demolish the house and replace it with 11 apartments.
About 18 months ago businessmen Richard Murphy of Chartbusters and Patrick Rocca bought the site in a private transaction. Last December An Bord Pleanála gave them permission to increase the number of units to 15 and the car spaces to 24. The 13 two-bed units will range in size from 77-115 sq m (828-1,237 sq ft) while the two three-bed homes will have floor areas of 150 and 174 sq m (1,614 and 1,872 sq ft).
Last week's selling price will come as a surprise to developers and raise questions about the price one could expect to achieve for completed apartments in Sandycove. There will be no disputing that the almost square site opposite Sandycove Tennis Club grounds is possibly the best available in Sandycove. It is a solid, middle class area where even the smallest houses (and there are few of them) generally make over €1 million.
One local resident commented: "There are a lot of big houses here which would sell for a few million and, for that reason, it is a big trade-down area. There will be lots of couples who want to move out of big houses and into comfortable apartments in the same area."
HOK had estimated that completed apartments would sell for between €9,688-€10,764 per sq m (€900-€1,000 per sq ft) and, according to Michael Hynes of that agency, they had taken calls from up to 30 local residents who were interested in buying at that price.
The attractions of the Sandycove site is that it is within walking distance of the sea and the Dart, as well as local bars and restaurants, including seafood specialists Cavistons.
Interest in detached houses and grounds with redevelopment opportunities has been particularly strong in south Dublin in recent months.
Last week Sherry FitzGerald and Vincent Finnegan got €5.5 million at auction for Beechcroft, a five-bedroom detached house on a corner site of 0.466 acres at 81 Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock. There is no current planning permission for developing the site.
Last week another developer Eugene Renehan paid €5.2 million for a five-bedroom detached house on 1.1 acres at Butterfield Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14. There house has obvious development potential.
