House site gets €3m

A CO KILDARE-based building firm is the buyer of a new homes site on Cork city’s Cleve Hill, Blackrock Road, paying c €3 million for six acres, with planning for 18 large homes.

Separately, and also for receivers KPMG, another site at Glanmire has made just over €1m, with Cork builders Rockforest Homes already out of the traps on site and selling homes which had been started at Fernwood by Murphy Construction.

Market sources say the buyers of the former Howard Holdings site at the city end of the Blackrock Road are Bridgedale Homes, set up in 2003 and actively building in several Kildare locations. The company is headed by director Stephen Garvey, and earlier this summer was reported to have parked plans for a €200 million public company floatation.

Actively pursued by a number of Munster builders, as well as several from Leinster, the Blackrock Cleve Hill site is reckoned to be one of the best up-market settings for new homes in Cork city. It is within a walk of the city centre, and where older detached houses along the Blackrock Road have sold in the €1m-€3m category, including the most recent, off-market, for well over €2 million for a period home by Barrington’s Avenue.

Cleve Hill’s six acres previously sold in 2006, at public auction to Howard Holdings for vendors the Murphy family, for €10.7 m.

It went back to market well over a year ago, guiding €2m via DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and had a protracted sale, closing out in recent weeks for receiver Kieran Wallace of KPMG. DTZ would only confirm interest had been very strong in the site, but would not confirm the buyer’s identity, or the price paid.

Other sources have identified Bridgedale as successful purchaser, who have at least 200 new-builds completed since 2003 in Kildare to their record. One underbidder suggested to the Irish Examiner that it may have made between €3m and €3.2m, or over €160,000 per house site. While there is ‘ready-to-go’ planning currently for 18 detached homes, of 2,400, 2,800 and 3,400 sq ft at Cleve Hill’s sloping 6.18 acres, it’s likely Bridgedale may seek to alter that planning, for marginally smaller houses, and may seek to increase the density to as much as 28, to include several semis to broaden market reach.

The eventual Cleve Hill result is seen as a positive marker for confidence in the upper end of the new homes market — as is the fact the buyer intends to proceed to build and sell, in contrast to the former 6.85 acre Nemo Rangers site on the Douglas Road. Nemo sold for €3m in 2013, where planning for over 100 houses was due to lapse by 2014. Nemo’s site buyer remains unidentified.

Meanwhile, also in Cork, developer David Walsh of the rapidly growing Rockforest Homes has confirmed he was the buyer of 1.8 acres and 15 partially completed new homes at Fernwood, Glanmire. It’s the last section of a 240-unit scheme by Murphy Construction and went to market in March of this year with Niall Cahalane of Cahalane Skuse auctioneers, with a €875,000 asking price.

It’s understood Rockforest paid just over €1m for the land by Glyntown, and has already launched the 15 under-construction houses for sale via Casey and Kingston.

Mr Walsh said five sales had been agreed in the past week, with three-bed semis at €250/260,000, and four-beds at €275,000 to €375,000 for detached homes.

Details: DTZ, 021-4275454; Cahalane Skuse, 021-4279179; Casey & Kingston, 021-4271127