Two west side stories

IS it the end for West End?

A pink three-bed mid 1900s bungalow in Cork’s western suburbs of Bishopstown is up for sale, and is likely to prove considerably more valuable dead, than alive.

An executor sale, the house on a very large garden plot reflects the ageing population of Bishopstown, with a lot of ‘empty nesters’ living in large and valuable family homes.

A development of apartments, aimed at people trading down, on sites like West End’s extensive gardens could free up dozens of homes for new families, is a sales pitch of West End’s joint selling agents Dennis Guerin of Frank V Murphy & Co and Sheila O’Flynn of Sherry Fitzgerald.

Despite having a major hospital, two third level colleges and several shopping centres in its catchment, and a new link to Ballincollig set to complete next year, the affluent but green-belted western suburb has seen negligible new residential development in the last five years.

(One of the very few schemes to get built is a 30-apartment development Cornfields on Curraheen Road, with just a handful of apartments to be sold on the market in January. The striking contemporary project near Firgrove and the old Dunnes Stores is being developed by the Sheehan family, who owned the Viscount bar and the adjoining land. Prices for two-bed units are likely to be over E300,000 each with Hamilton Osborne King.)

Meanwhile, prior to going to market there’s a developer’s offer of E800,000 on West End, near the end of the Bishopstown road and the start of the Waterfall Road close to Bishoptown Court.

It is on a site of 1.14 acres, with a neighbouring property owner also prepared to sell a 0.36 section of adjoining garden, making for a 1.5 acre development site with 30 metres of road frontage in all and a likely sale value close to 1 million.

The gardens go back to the Credit Union on Curraheen Road, providing a possible second access.

There’s a slim possibility that it may be bought for redevelopment for one or two large houses, but the likelihood is that it will be sold and levelled for low to medium density housing.

Back closer to Wilton, Victoria Cross and UCC/CIT, most new development has been ear-marked for purpose-built student accommodation, even though several proposed schemes are being rejected by planners concerned at the prospect of an oversupply of such tax-driven stock.

A major planing application for a mixed use scheme has been sought along the south ring road extension for Buckley’s builders providers site, while close to Dunnes Stores’ Bishopstown Court, a planning decision is due on December 19 for 300 housing units at Garranedarargh for Rosridge Properties.