One of the best located Section 23 apartment developments in Dublin city centre goes on the market today close to Trinity College and Tara Street DART station. Prices for College Gate will start at £130,000 for one-bedroom apartments and from £170,000 for two-bedroom units, according to selling agents Finnegan Menton.
Apart from its superb location at Townsend Street, the College Gate apartments will also be the first in the city to be built over a new swimming-pool and gymnasium which are to be handed over to Dublin Corporation.
The 70 apartments are being developed on the site of the former Countess Markievicz swimming-pool by a company headed by John Ronan and Richard Barrett. The leisure complex will include a 25 metre pool with a viewing area, a gymnasium and coffee shop with a separate entrance on Luke Street.
Finnegan Menton is to take bookings at this stage for 40 of the one, two and three-bedroom apartments which are due to be completed by the end of the year. One-bedroom homes will have a floor area of 415 to 445 sq ft and will cost from £130,000 to £150,000. The majority of the two-bedroom apartments will have 600 to 620 sq ft and cost from £170,000 to £185,000. A further half dozen units will have between 700 and 785 sq ft and will be priced from £200,000 to £250,000. The agents will also be a be selling a three-bedroom penthouse with 820 sq ft which has a price tag of £300,000.
The specifications are everything one would expect at this price level. There will be a handsome reception foyer off Townsend Street with two lifts which will run from the underground car-park to each of the six apartment floors. The Townsend Street facade is likely to be particularly attractive with polished granite finish along the base under a mixture of glass wall, reconstituted stone and light-coloured brick in keeping with neighbouring buildings. Because the ground floor swimming-pool will have a double height, even the apartments at the first floor level will be high above the street.
The development is undoubtedly among the best of the wave of inner city apartment schemes launched in recent weeks.
The emphasis inside the apartments is on creating a sense of space. Even the corridors are wider than usual and because of the L-shape of the block they are also shorter. All the apartments are exceptionally bright and airy with a good standard of finish. The livingrooms are generally quite large and have small kitchens off them with a perfectly adequate range of pine units and enough space for electrical appliances. One-bedroom apartments have a handy storage area off the hall while many of the two-bedroom units have a terrific walk-in hot press and store.
One of the architectural surprises of the scheme is a roof garden over the swimming-pool which will be for the use of the residents. Some of the two-bedroom apartments will have large bay windows overlooking the raised central courtyard. The excellent communal facilities will also include a roof garden with clear views over the entire city centre.
