Estate agent Kevin DeLappe has a very good idea of the kind of person who will buy the latest property on his books: a terraced two-bedroom house at 11 Pimlico in The Coombe, Dublin 8. DeLappe knows the neighbourhood well, having lived there himself for several years, before finally moving further out of town 18 months ago.
"It's young professionals who want to buy here now," he says. "You get a late 20s, early 30s crowd who are a bit hipstery, a bit Camden Street-y. They are tired of renting an apartment and so they buy a house. Then live here for a while, enjoy the community feel, have lots of parties and then they get sense, grow up and move out. It's a transient neighbouhood in that sense. People tend to stay for four to seven years."
The owners of 11 Pimlico are moving on because their family is growing and the house will soon be too small for them. They have put it on the market asking €295,000 through Brock DeLappe who will show it for the first time on Saturday July 29th. Within an hour of it going on the market on Monday morning there had been be a dozen enquiries.
The attractions are obvious: price and location and the benefit of your own front door. The two-storey house has 71.8 sq m (773 sq ft) of living space with a largely open plan ground floor with a leaving room and dining space leading off a well equipped and bright kitchen. The bathroom is also on the ground floor and has a full bath and a heated towel rail. There are some nice decorative touches throughout the the house including the use of reclaimed cast iron radiators and timber sash windows.
Upstairs there are two airy bedrooms, one of which has access to the roof of the extension below. Safety railings would need to be added before this could be described as a roof terrace. There is a small yard to the rear of the house, suitable for storing a bike or two.
The Coombe is undergoing rapid change. Having suffered significant neglect in recent decades, it is starting to witness “a re-birth”, with the construction of student accommodation and hotels, and the new Teeling distillery on nearby Newmarket Square bringing an increase of tourism.
According to a report in The Irish Times earlier this month, planning permission "is in the process of being lodged" for a major development in the Liberties which is expected to cost roughly €200 million and will see the addition of a 239-bedroom hotel, a microbrewery, retail and office space, and residential accommodation.
