An ace €25m scheme

A €25 million development of student apartments is aimed at people with a high net worth - and, appropriately, it is being built in the back of the Tennis Village complex in Cork where a €5 million ‘front-of-house’ upgrade is also planned.

The scheme, aimed at the Section 50 market, will best serve those with existing high rental incomes, as they are among the largest and possibly the most expensive student apartments to be built yet.

When the ten year tax break is up, the large units could offer family sized apartments to the open market, the developers intend.

The units will initially house from six to eight students in each, with a choice of four or five bedroomed apartment options (rooms are mix of singles and doubles,) and the promoters also claim that it is possibly the first all en suite student complex.

Apartment sizes are very large, from 1,100 sq ft to 1,540 sq ft, to accommodate the large number of students per unit, and sales prices are correspondingly large.

They start at €355,000 and rise to €470,000, plus fit out.

The scheme is aimed squarely at private investors, says Larry Murphy of Irish and European, who has recently sold of the last Section 50 units at the nearby Parchment Square scheme developed nearby by the Kenny Group and where prices there averaged €230,000 for three and four student units.

A management company will be set up to run the investment, with a proposed annual levy of 500 per bed space. A letting fee of 5% applies to all apartments.

The 20-year old tennis village complex on four acres itself will be upgraded with improved courts, a new concept bar, conference room, sports injury and physiotherapy clinics, and possibly a children’s play centre.

There were 95 student units at the now sold-out Parchment Square S 50 scheme near the CIT, and 50% of buyers came from Cork, while as many again came from further afield, from as far away as Monaghan.

Irish and European expect as much national interest in this new scheme, and admit that it will have most appeal to those with a significant existing rent roll and a taxable income they want to minimise.

Twenty seven of the 64 apartments have already been booked prior to launch, say the sales agents. All apartments in the four storey block allow for wheelchair access, with lifts and disable bathrooms in each unit, while nine in particular are specially geared up for disabled occupants.

Section 50 provisions allow up to 90% of purchase cost to be offset against rental income. Another incentive to investors is the fact that mortgage interest relief on borrowings can also be claimed.

The development, designed by Dublin firm Frank Ennis Architects, is being backed by Myraoak Holdings Ltd, comprising a number of business people and professionals who bought the existing Tennis Village complex with indoor and outdoor courts, bar and restaurant in the mid to late 1990s for around £1.7 million.

The 64 student apartments at Edenhall@theVillage are described as phase one of the centre’s redevelopment.

The centre, on the Model Farm Road, is in close proximity to the 12,000 student strong CIT campus.