A SYMBOL of better times, Heatherfield will remain the quality house building calling card of troubled Fleming Construction: the collapsed entity now reportedly has debts of around €1.8 billion, well over the initial €1 billion sum widely referred to since ACC Bank first inched the rug out from under the group in 2009.
Now being financially filleted by its entire group of banks, Flemings built the 60-house highly bankable Heatherfield development in Cork back in the first half of the 2000s, with launch prices at €650,000, and later resales here even tipped over the €1 million mark.
Early last year Flemings launched the more contemporary Earls Well development next door to Heatherfield in Waterfall, with far larger (3,000 to 4,000 sq ft) houses marketed from €1 million upwards. However, Flemings escalating debt difficulties saw the few keen purchasers hold back awaiting clarity.
Clearly, now, Earls Well is a longer term project for whoever picks it up (it has five finished houses in a cul de sac) — so Heatherfield is the main upmarket show in the locale for the foreseeable future.
A resale new on the 2010 market is No 20 Heatherfield, listed with Sheila O’Flynn of Sherry FitzGerald, who seeks offers around €775,000. That’s for a quality-built, 2,500 sq ft steel framed house with high insulation standards, and two of its five bedrooms en suite.
No 20’s on a quite large site, tapering off to the back in a triangle, and the quality of the house is fairly uniformly high inside, along with a paved front drive, a stepped rear paved patio and barbecue space, plus a large steel shed.
The house is in walk-in condition, with three reception rooms, including a family room down three steps from the kitchen/diningroom, which has oak units and granite tops. Features include extensive wiring for TV and phone, two en suite bathrooms, power showers, quality tiling and sanitary ware, Jacuzzi bath in the main bathroom, a range cooker in the kitchen, an alarm, and wiring for CCTV.
A walk-in job, say Sherry FitzGerald of the house within a 10-minute drive of Cork city’s western suburbs.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, March 13, 2010
