Swords/€235,000-€297,500: Two developments by golf courses in north Co Dublin are on the market this week: stylish two and three-bedroom homes beside Forrest Little Golf Club will appeal to first-time buyers, says Jack Fagan, Property Editor.
First-time buyers appearing in ever increasing numbers at development sites since the opening of the current selling season will have an interesting new option from today when 24 two and three-bedroom apartments go on sale in the latest phase of a stylish scheme beside Forrest Little Golf Club at Swords in north Dublin.
Prices start at €235,000 for two-bedroom apartments and from €297,500 for three-bedroom homes.
If previous launches at Ridgewood are anything to go by, the latest tranche coming on the market will be in strong demand not only because of the superb location between Swords and Dublin Airport but also because of the consistently high quality of work by developers MKN Property Group, run by the McKeon family.
Two years ago it had the unique distinction of winning the Britannia National HomeBuilder Design Award for the best residential scheme in Britain or Ireland.
MKN has spent the best part of five years on the Ridgewood site largely because of planning holdups. The interesting mixture of homes there, from large, expensive family homes to townhouses and apartments, underline the changes that have taken place in the housing industry even in that time. The end result is a complementary mix of homes that allows residents to trade up and trade down within the development.
The overall scheme has also aged well, helped greatly by the excellent layout, the attractive open spaces and the generous landscaping.
It will not have gone unnoticed that values in the development have shot up over the past few years because it has all the appearance of a prosperous and well-designed scheme in a most convenient location.
Joint agents Hooke & MacDonald and Morton & Flanagan will be staffing show apartments today, tomorrow and over the weekend.
The apartments will be ready to move into in May and June, around the same time as Tesco Express begins trading out of a new convenience store at the front of the site. The complex will also include a medical centre and crèche.
The homes in Ridgewood Grove going for sale from today are located in two separate three-storey blocks with a clever dual aspect layout that works exceptionally well.
This configuration by architects Fenton Simons means that the living quarters on one side have terrific light and atmosphere while the double bedrooms on the other side offer a comfortable and peaceful ambience. The interiors reflect continuing demand for spacious accommodation and high specification, crisp and attractive kitchens and bathrooms.
All the livingrooms have glass- fronted balconies, many of them facing south or south-east. The corner apartments are considerably bigger and have balconies wrapped around the corner of the livingroom with two separate sliding doors on either side.
Part of the extra space is taken up with a comfortable en suite off the main bedroom. Entrance halls are well-finished and welcoming and include storage space. All the apartments are heated by mains gas central heating.
Two different types of two-bedroom units will be available, a slightly more compact unit with almost 66 sq m (710 sq ft) priced from €235,000. The larger home has 77.5 sq m (835 sq ft) and is available from €246,000. There are also two three-bedroom apartments available in this phase with a floor area of almost 99 sq m (1,065 sq ft) and a price tag of €297,000.
As usual the MKN group has not skimped on landscaping, which will greatly boost the growth in capital appreciation over the next few years. Some of the apartments will obviously appeal to investors aware of the strong letting market locally: Ridgewood is only a short drive from a number of major industries as well as Dublin Airport.
