The Blackpool high life
No other Cork suburb has seen such a dramatic transformation in the past five years as the northside's rejuvenated Blackpool. And Heron Gate crowns it all off.
Developed by the Love family's Shipton Group, the 28-apartment scheme is the firm's first venture into residential development: it is so smart, you'd presume they've been at it for years.
The Loves' development track record since the 1970s has been in shopping centres. They've huge designs on remaking Douglas village, where they own the two principal shopping centres, and they ambitiously plan to fill in the gaps between both centres for a new centre.
Across the city, they are in the final stages of rounding out their development portfolio with Blackpool's old 11-acre Pole Field as the calling card for the next Love family generation.
Bright and buzzy, the €200 million investment has got superb third-generation offices, restaurants, retail and home-furnishings warehousing, a multi-screen cinema, multi-storey car park and a successful trading shopping centre.
There's also a three-acre public park along the banks of the River Bride, while just up the road a new leisure complex, the €25 million The Planet, with €15m pool, bowling, Quasar and other facilities, opens soon.
In the midst of all this, Heron Gate has four units ranging from over 800 sq ft on each of its seven floors.
Each unit has a dual aspect, with views up from the Blackpool valley setting to the hills immediately east and west, while the relative proximity of the city centre (a mile away) is seen most dramatically of all in the view to the south.
The selling agents are Trish Stokes and Paul Reid of Sherry FitzGerald, and prices range from €325,000 upwards. Prices have not yet been confirmed for the roof garden penthouses.
Not only is the floor area a generous size, at an average of 830 sq ft, floor-to-ceiling height is also improved upon, so there's a real feeling of spaciousness.
The top two penthouses measure about 1,300 sq ft, with double height living space, and 1,000 sq ft roof gardens.
Designed by architects Kelly Barry O'Brien Whelan, and built by PJ Hegarty & Sons, the building is in the final throes of being finished. There is a striking fourth-floor show unit, open from Sunday November 13, by Carmel Downey of The Village Interiors.
The quality external finishes include terracotta tile cladding, powder coated aluminium high-performance windows (great sound insulation) and treated cedar cladding, done by the Dutch firm Prince Cladding.
Internally, specifications include a utility room off the kitchen, fitted out by the nearby and highly-rated In-House showrooms, master bedroom en suite and pod bathrooms to hotel standard and supplied by the rapidly-expanding Delta company in Macroom, video intercom access, wiring for cable/satellite and broadband, and there's CCTV security around the building perimeter.
Each apartment has a space in the multi-storey car park alongside.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
