Crowning glory of upward mobility and high fidelity

THE best - and the most expensive - has been kept for last at roof level in Cork’s Trinity Court.

The penthouse at the 61-unit apartment scheme is up for sale after a final quality fit-out and flourish, and it does exactly what it promises on the sales blurb.

It meets the address criteria, and has a full-on view of Holy Trinity Church, across the south channel of the River Lee.

The view also takes in the new Lapp’s Quay development down river to the east, and Sunday’s Well to the north and west.

This apartment certainly qualifies for the oft-abused ‘penthouse’ description.

It has 1,450 sq ft of living space, about as much as a decent detached house, and it is up on floor five of the stylishly-finished building with a courtyard planted with tree ferns, and it comes with two basement car parking spaces for its €750,000 asking price.

The selling agent on the Fleming Construction development, Jackie Cohalan of Cohalan Downing, says just this penthouse and two 600 sq ft two-beds, at €290,000, are left to sell, and she confirms “the best was kept to last, and there’s already prospective buyers for the penthouse but we wanted to finish it out and show it off first. We’re ending on a high note, up on the fifth floor.”

Given the penthouse’s virtual isolation in the development - access is by private bridge, a bit of a feature in itself - it has aspects to all directions, and there’s a north-facing balcony to the front as well as a private terrace (with a ‘living’ bamboo screen) to the south.

Materials used externally include cedar, teak, stainless steel, galvanised steel and red deal, says site engineer Cormac Murphy, who is now bidding goodbye to the complicated build after 18 months.

Internally, he lists materials like walnut inlay in the doors, cherry skirting and architraves, beech kitchen units with granite tops, beech flooring and knacky storage drawers built into the steps to the balcony, and ceiling height is above standard too, at about 10’.

The open plan living/kitchen dining has a wall-mounted slender gas fire, two of the three bedrooms have hotel-quality fully tiled en suites, and lighting is well chosen, with sleek contemporary fittings selected by Burke by Design.

Up to half of the buyers at Trinity Court have been owner-occupiers, and demand for the penthouse is expected to come from traders-down and professionals.