Fruity prices but fine homes and fab Cork address at €1.3m Orchard Road new builds

THE picking time for Irish heritage apples called Ecklinville has just passed in the early autumn month of September. But, fear not, there’s a select crop of Ecklinvilles just coming to market, with a shiny example to show to tastiest advantage: Might they all be home and harvested by Christmas?

One of Cork city’s more upmarket, and niche, new homes schemes called Ecklinville has finally cropped up for sale, with nine new A-rated builds, in one of the city’s premier addresses, Orchard Rd, an address which prompted the almost-obvious nomenclature, after a fruit.

The developers, could have gone for better-known apple tree varieties, out of the c. 7,500 known trees, including Red Delicious and Golden Delicious? Pink Lady or Gala? Or, even Granny Smiths? But, none really have the ring of apple of your eye exclusivity about it?

Enter Ecklinville, an apple variety grown from a pip near Portaferry and Belfast from the 1700s, commercially harvested and good for baking. The variety is still available (via West Cork’s Future Forests for about €20, but currently out of stock).

Back up north, there’s now a distillery called Echlinville in Co Down, but they don’t seem to do an apple spirit as yet.

In Cork’s Orchard Rd, an address recalling the old days of Jennings family fruit farms by the Jennings’ venerable late 1880s Brookfield House just west of UCC and the Bon Secours, there are only nine rosy-cheeked Ecklinvilles up for the plucking: They are big and just-rooted new-build homes.

One [No 8] is reserved, so there’s eight to sell, at prices from €1.3-1.4m via agents Savills, who just started the first showhouse viewings in the past week.

There’ll be a huge nosiness factor, but not surprisingly, viewings are by appointment, so advised to put on your best bib and tucker, and at least polish the SUV before rolling up for a look-see in the flesh if that’s what takes your fancy.

If Ecklinville had come along even just a year or two ago, it would have been a first, a scheme of new-builds all priced over €1m.

But, they were pipped to the post so to speak by a scheme 1km away called Vailima, where seven comparable new-builds were built on the grounds of an old house, called Vailima, sold for €1.35m in 2016 and flattened.

While all at Vailima are now sold and occupied (the developer kept the largest for his own family), they don’t however all show on the price register: No 4 and No 5 Vailima do show though, at €1.125m and €1.321m, after going the open market in 2022.

Next door, planning has just been granted for 18 units for the same Vailima developer Killian Kelly/KACE at Merton Lodge where, again, the original, large plush private home of a medical consultant will be replaced by, in this case, 10 houses (including semi-ds), plus four apartments and four duplexes.

Merton Lodge sold for €1.72m, according to the price register in August, with that price reflecting the house’s value on an acre. The Merton Lodge site also had to accommodate plans for a new Bus Connects extension along Model Farm Rd, planning files show.

Separately, the price register shows the land for what’s now Ecklinville on Orchard Rd fetching €1.9m, in 2018, when DOB Developments bought a large and luxe, architect-designed private home on possibly the road’s largest site for €1.9m and, eventually, getting planning for these nine, broadly similar detacheds, in an L-layout, off the road with a sort of chicane in the middle, and which links College Rd with Victoria Cross.

Most Orchard Rd homes are detached, and many are in the €1m+ category, but resales since “the crash” have been few and far between, two have been in the €700k to €900k price range, and the “sacrificial” San Paula topped out at €1.9m, now departed.

Several one-off replacements have been and are being built on salubrious Orchard Rd: A super-sized one-off is in the latter stages of construction directly across the road from Ecklinville and, coincidentally, it is being done by the same skilled builder, Colm Desmond of CDC Construction who now has the end in sight after starting building here in May of 2022, and having removed the 1990s San Paula and clearing its site and BBQ/entertaining area.

Editorial in these pages back in summer ’22 referred to a “Novena” of nine to be built, using CGIs to give a flavour of what was to come and a notional price indicated back then of c. €1.3m via agents Savills.

Now, the nine are built, one’s taken, a showhouse is done up to the nines, by Dublin-based North Design, and handover can be done by Christmas of this year with keys in hand of new owners, estate agent Michel O’Donovan of Savills says, while prices are at the anticipated levels, €1.3m to €1.4m for the eight, with only slight variety in sizes, from just over 2,400 sq ft to just over 2,500 sq ft, with slight changes in width and depth.

Strongest and initial interest to date is from would-be buyers relocating to Cork from Dublin, Britain and further afield, Mr O’Donovan says and, yes, while medics can be expected to lead the field given a setting so close to the CUH, Bons and Mercy hospitals, as well as third level colleges, there are others in the mix too, he indicates.

Key attractions are the location, the A-rated prospects of living comfort and low running costs (air to water, underfloor with concrete floors at all levels) plus wide electric Charlton & Jenrick fires in the front sitting room, the quality of CDC’s build and finish, and the fact they are ready for final fit-out, with a €50,000 PC sum/allowance for kitchens, flooring, robes etc.

Visitors will immediately note the extra height in the rooms, on all three levels, and especially in the rear family area off the kitchen/dining hub, under two metre wide roof lights, and they’ll also note it in the top floor with two of the five bedroom.

There’s a choice of main bedroom suites, at either mid/first floor level and at the second floor level too, where there’s a lovely room with good head heights under deep Veluxes: It’s all a very family friendly layout, with five bedrooms.

Oh, and the décor isn’t all greys, with blues and greens also seen.

The painted kitchen (with quartz tops and big island) in the show unit is by Paul Barrett Design, and the ground floor has a front sitting room linked via double doors to a very large kitchen/diner/family room, plus utility (with external side access) and guest WC, while large sliding doors (all glazing is from Munster Joinery) open to back gardens.

Not surprisingly, site sizes are modest, while external spaces include brick paved drives and wrought iron rails on front boundaries, with limestone paved patios behind, while maintenance costs into the future will be minimal.

VERDICT: An apple named Ecklinville’s appeal may see medics come for the pick of the crop.