Action stations for Donnybrook land sale — Cork's housing hot-spot

And, on the other side of this Donnybrook site, work is also progressing further outside Douglas on 250 homes at Cooney’s Lane, Grange, via long-time land owners Westbrook Housing, with sales likely in 2024.

Just coming to market for an end-year sale with a €2.3m guide to developers/builders, as well as possibly approved housing bodies (AHBs) is a development opportunity of 4.4 acres at the foot of Donnybrook Hill, by the national schools before the junction with the Grange/Frankfield Road.

The exceptional site, to be accessed off Donnybrook Hill, wraps around the period, Georgian-era Ballybrack House, on private wooded grounds of 1.8 acres and which sold back in the slump of 2011 for close to €1.2m —one of a tiny handful of Cork houses making €1m plus at that cash-strapped time.

The Hegarty family who sold Ballybrack House back then retained additional lands associated with their home above and below Ballybrack itself, fringing the Mangala woods (now a much-loved public amenity walk, enhanced by the City Council) and touching the long-established Douglas Lions sheltered housing scheme in the east village.

This ‘ready to go’ 4.4 acre section below Ballybrack House is offered for the owners with full planning by agents Malcolm Tyrrell and Jackie Cohalan of Cohalan Dowing by private treaty: they say a very broad spectrum of bidders can be anticipated given the setting within Douglas, the planning grant, the market appeal of the 29 units and the overall dearth of supply.

The site is just a first offer, as the vendors have a further section to the south/up the hill, above Ballybrack House suitable for apartments, and which may make a further, future sale to a different buyer profile.

The planning file for these 29 units list the applicants as Patrica Hegarty, Marie Reidy, Anna O’Toole, and Felicity Ryan, and the plans for the developments either side of Ballybrack House were appealed to An Bord Pleanala by the current owners of Ballybrack House, who’d bought from the Hegarty family, listed as Barry and Sharon O’Reilly.

Involved in the planning process was engineer Kieran Barry and consultants McCutcheon Halley, and the 29 units are a mix of terraces (nos 1-13,) , some semis and a detached four-bed, mostly two-storey and dormers. Six are two-beds, 15 are three-bed, with four four-beds.

Separately, four one-beds will be accessed from Lion House, which provides housing to the elderly, and the balance will have separate access. No details are given at present of the higher section, on the southern side of Ballybrack House, earmarked for apartments.

The scheme has been a number of years in the pipeline, including a change of authority from Cork County Council to Cork City Council and along the way a new bridge was proposed close-by, passing by the Mangala woods to tie in with other large schemes in the wider Douglas area.

Cohalan Downing agent Malcolm Tyrrell says “the superior location, coupled with the site’s inherent desirability, presents an unparalleled prospect for developers seeking to create a distinctive and sought-after residential enclave”.

He notes that there is just a 10% Part V commitment required, adding “this prime development is probably one of the best the city has had to offer in recent years”. (A sale agreed on an even more exceptional greenfield site on the South Douglas road owned by the Whitaker family and ear-marked by Centurion Homes has failed to conclude after protracted negotiations.)

Confident of exceptionally keen interest and bids on the €2.3m-guided Ballybrack ready-to-go site, Mr Tyrrell adds that Douglas “is a thriving village renowned for exceptional amenities and proximity to everything that matters, being surrounded by esteemed schools, a vibrant shopping hub, as well as an abundance of scenic parks, sport facilities, and recreational centres catering to diverse lifestyles. It makes this the most desirable site on the market.”

• Meanwhile, also coming to a pre-Christmas market is a similar-sized four acre development site with an equally prestigious Cork address, amidst new home developments in coastal hot-spot Kinsale.

Here, 4.12 acre/1.68 ha known as the Island Field and ringed by roads by the Kinsale Manor development, close to Abbeyfort and the local mart, is listed with estate-agent Miah McGrath of McCarthy & McGrath.

He guides at €1.7m and while the site had been associated with a Dublin-based owner, it’s now being sold on behalf of Nama. Although there is no planning linked to it, it’s zoned for residential development and could take a scheme of up to 50 homes, with easy access to services, within a walk of the centre of Kinsale, with water views from the upper portion.

DETAILS: Cohalan Downing, 021-4277717/ McCarthy & McGrath, 021-273800