Fingal County Council has availed of the slowdown in the market for development sites to buy two land banks, one close to Swords and the other near Dublin Airport, for over €40 million.
The council has paid over €30 million for 34 acres at Dubber Cross on St Margaret's Road, just north of the M50. In a separate deal, it was also the highest bidder at over €10 million for 8.8 acres at the IDA-owned Balheary Industrial Park, north of Swords town centre.
The land at Dubber Cross is to be used for a mix of social housing and industrial units while the other site will be developed in line with the remainder of the industrial park. The council has several industrial parks to promote business activity and employment.
Agent HT Meagher O'Reilly, who handled the sale of the larger site, said it was not in a position to confirm the sale while DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, who advised the IDA, said it was precluded from making any comment.
Although the 34 acres is zoned objective RU "to protect and provide for the development of agricultural rural amenity" in the Fingal development plan, most of the surrounding area has been zoned either for residential, general industrial or distribution/warehouse facilities.
The council has already sold around 1,700 affordable houses and has a list of 684 applicants who have been approved for similar accommodation. The council has also provided 4,100 social houses and has a further 5,444 people on a waiting list.
HT Meagher O'Reilly had been telling developers interested in the land that, with plans for the Metro West route proceeding, there were very good grounds for the site to be rezoned in the next development plan to avail of the benefits of what would be major transport infrastructure.
The new Metro West service is scheduled to become operational by 2014. The surrounding area has seen considerable development recently, including the huge scheme at Charlestown where the first phase of a new shopping centre has been opened by Tom and Michael Bailey of Bovale Developments. Also close by is the 100-acre Dublin Airport Logistics Park where the tenants include DHL and Easons.
The Balheary land is equally well located, close to Swords and several planned stations on the Metro line. Swords has immense appeal for industrial units because of its proximity to the M50, M1 and Dublin Port Tunnel.
