Big site major city attraction

THE old roadside Ballincurrig Cottage was knocked and replaced back probably in the 1970s, with the ‘new’ build stepping back a bit from the traffic to make way for a safer bus stop on the Douglas Road.

Now 30 years later will the replacement ‘cottage’ house (with granny-flat annexe) again be replaced?

The three-bed bungalow with add-ons, including a two-bed self-contained unit alongside, hits the spring 2006 market with a guide price of €850,000-plus.

But, in reality, when viewers see the one third of an acre site in such a stellar location, their ambitions for a house (or two) here will be further fuelled, and that may well drive on the eventual sales price too to a much high levels.

It is all about location, and this house is on the main Douglas Road in Cork, a couple of easy commuting miles from the city centre: no hassles of getting through Douglas village’s traffic snarls and hillside congestion, in other words.

The recent sales pattern in this prime inner-Douglas hinterland is for large-ish homes on good gardens to yield a second site at least, and case in point is the adjacent early 1900s dormer Overton, which made €1.3 million in 2004 (the auctioneer’s sales board, incidentally, appears to have taken root here two years on. What chances it will burst into life like the fence posts which sometimes go on to bud again?)

Overton is to see two houses on its two thirds of an acre grounds, while another very contemporary house design with a Cygnum wood frame is springing up behind a neighbouring 1950s semi-d on the main road.

Selling agent for Ballincurrig Cottage is Peter Cave of Hamilton Osborne King, who is offering the property ‘as-is,’ not subject to any planning ambitions, and he reckons it could as easily be bought by a private owner occupier as by a developer/builder who might try and squeeze a couple of new homes, or apartments, on the grounds.

As it stands, Ballincurrig Cottage has three bedrooms, two bathroom, a good size sitting room, kitchen and sun room, mostly all with good proportions, while the smaller dwelling has two bedrooms, kitchenette and sitting room, and what’s described as a waiting room. The back gardens have a southerly aspect. HOK are selling by private treaty.

Meanwhile, across the road, Cohalan Downing have Woolhara House, a detached 3,600 sq ft house on a prime quarter acre site up for sale. Laid out in bedsits, it is being pitched as a development opportunity. It was last for sale back in 2004 for around €850,000. Now the guide is around €1.5 million.