Model homes in Tower

A SMALL number of houses, in a central village setting, with a high standard of finish, should see sales tip along nicely for Model Quarter.

Right in the very heart of Tower village, known as the model village, this niche scheme (‘in-fill’ is probably too low-key for it) has just nine fine-sized townhouses now built, and finished and going on show this weekend, with another nine apartments and duplexes to round it all off coming along in about a year’s time.

Builder Jim Murphy of Murphy Prestige, who specialises in a hands-on approach to his schemes, and who operates on a low numbers policy, got this greenfield site in the core of Tower with the Centra-anchored shopping centre just across the road, and with Aunties and the Huntsman pubs just up the other road.

He drafted in Project Architects for the crossroads village scheme, and the size of the townhouses which are smartly finished in a mix of treated cedar, painted render, feature brick arches and with some buff-coloured Leitrim stone, will give them a broad appeal. They also have things like sloping Velux roof-lights linked to matching windows in the wall for a bit of design touch, costly to use but pleasant to have.

They each weigh in at about 1,300 sq ft, well above the c 950 sq ft average for this house type. As a consequence, buyers can think about living here long-term, and the usual first buy apartment or townhouse buyer’s urge to trade up and out as soon as possible may not apply in this case.

Selling agent is Suzanne Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing, and prices are €365,000 each for these spacious three-beds. While they’ll appeal to some first-time buyers, who’ll relish the space, they’ll also appeal to traders down and those looking for an easy-keep home with amenities right on the very doorstep.

The impression of size is set from the wide hallway and the landing overhead also in on the larger size.

The main living room is almost 20’ deep, but actually quite narrow, or maybe that’s just from the shape perspective: best room of all is the full-width kitchen/dining room to the back, with Latte-coloured high-gloss kitchen units keeping it all light and bright.

There’s a utility off the kitchen, a guest loo off the hall, and the houses all come with appliances like dishwasher, a Neff oven, a microwave, washing machine and dryer, and Franke sink.

There’s a host of extras, such as central vacuum system, underfloor heating at ground level, open fireplaces wired for electricity and plumbed for gas, so all heating options are there, and insulation, build levels and finishes are high.

Two of the three bedrooms are a good size, and even the box room isn’t too bad, and the master bedroom’s en suite is bigger than the norm, with a pumped electric shower. The main bathroom has a Jacuzzi bath. and a decent sized hotpress accessed from within the bathroom, so aired clothes and warmed towels are always to hand.

The nine houses, all neatly in a row, have an east-west aspect, so light in the rooms is a given at opposite ends of the day. In fact, it is hard enough to tell the front from the back, as each has a walled and railed in garden, with street/pavement/village aspect on one side, and courtyard parking on the other where next year should see the apartments and duplexes coming along to complete the Model Quarter.

The showhouse is open this weekend from 2 to 4.00 pm.