Lodge in ideal location

THE main house, Brookfield, made headlines in a major sale in the 1990s, and now the lodge looks to follow suit.

Pretty Brookfield Lodge, on Cork city’s College Road, has features in common with the large period house it served as a gate lodge to, and has a crisply modern and high quality living environment inside.

But, for all of its interior attractions, it is its precious footprint, the pivotal position it occupies that will see its value soar.

UCC may well be to the forefront in bidding on this lodge, given it is in the final days of waiting on full planning permission for a €44 million nursing and medical school wrapped around the mid-1800s Brookfield House behind.

UCC bought Brookfield House and wooded grounds for £3.5m (€4.4m).

The college initially sought to demolish it but after considerable objections thought the better of the proposal, and went back to the drawing board for a new use which integrated the unusual building, built by the Jennings family (they had a huge mineral water business and merchant interests) whose estates once stretched from the city to Carrigrohane.

But, given the proximity of the Bon Secours Hospital and the needs of private consultants for medical suites near this huge private hospital, medics may well enter the equation directly.

A group recently bought a large semi-detached house for close to €750,000 on College Road, and aims to change its use to medical consulting rooms.

Estate agent Billy Casey of Casey and Kingston guides Brookfield Lodge at over €500,000, small beer really to the type of bidder who will come knocking on its door.

And, he doesn’t rule out the slim chance that a private buyer may like it enough to go into the fray as well, given the €1 million or so paid last year for a house in need of renovation on nearby Orchard Road - bought, incidentally, by a doctor.

This lodge, built of the same yellow London fire brick as the main house, is two storey and for years was home to a large family, but was extended in the last few years.

Architect Peter Murphy, working with builder Morgan O’Neill, turned the lodge into a smart and highly liveable home, drawing in lots of light and extending it to the back so that it now has about 1,700 sq ft of well-finished and laid out living space, adaptable to other uses.

At present, it has just two first floor bedrooms, two linked reception rooms with an open stairs and gallery landing over one, a quality kitchen with gas fired Aga behind, and walled in rear gardens and patio with secure parking.

The Brookfield student apartment complex and holiday village is to the west. The proposed new entrance for the Brookfield nursing/medical is close to Brookfield village.

Meanwhile, UCC has been active in recent months acquiring property adjacent to its main campus as part of a €300 million capital development programme.

It has bought the M&P O’Sullivan cash and carry site at Victoria Cross for €2.5 million for undisclosed needs, is currently developing Section 50 student accommodation with Fleming Construction at Victoria Cross where another S50 scheme is also under construction, and it bought a three acre site on the Mardyke since Christmas for €2 million.

It is also expected to go to tender soon for a €80m IT building on the old Greyhound Race track.