A city site to build on

THE former Nemo Rangers site, easily developed and in a cracking inner-suburban setting in Cork City, was expensively acquired by the Fleming Group, and is now for sale for its receivers.

The price guide for the 6.85 acres with planning for 102 dwellings is €2.85m, via Savills.

Location (just beyond St Finbarr’s Hospital) is so strong, market demand from househunters for family homes is assured, but - what builders will come to fund its purchase?

The current planning permission granted by City Hall and upheld by An Bord Pleanala is due to expire in March 2014, and it’s predominantly for a mix of terraced two- and three-storey houses, as well as apartments and duplexes. It’s possible some developers keen on taking it on will go for a different design and density, and more family/market-friendly homes — ie predominantly semis and some detacheds.

The greenfield site sale is on the instructions of George Maloney of Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon, and Bruce Alexander McKay, and includes an end-terrace period house, No 7 Eldred Terrace. The city centre is a short walk away and Douglas village is 1.5kms to the south east. Given pent-up demand for well-located new city homes, it’s likely that well-designed semis of about 1,200 sq ft would sell for over €300,000 each, and they could be built to order.

Agents Peter O’Meara and Isobel O’Regan of Savills bill the sale as “a site in one of the most sought-after residential suburbs of Cork City, and one of the last remaining development sites of scale within the southern inner suburbs.” Entire zoning is ’residential, local services & institutions’.

Flemings began site acquisition in 2002, doing a land swap/new clubhouse for GAA club Nemo Rangers at an estimated cost of e7-8m, and later got a small Department of Defence/old FCA site at the access point for a further €2m.

Developers who may be in the running could include O’Callaghan Properties, Ruden Homes, Astra Construction, McCarthy Developments, as well as a handful of more private names with previous building pedigree.

Details: Savills, 021-4271371