Sky’s the limit at Mahon for new 413 unit tower
PLANS for a €100m residential development in Cork’s Mahon, with 413 units across six blocks including one mooted tower of 25 storeys tall by the Jack Lynch Tunnel approach is being proposed for lands owned by McCarthy Properties.
McCarthy Properties have previously built here at Ballinure/Jacobs Island in the early 2000s, with four apartment blocks with about 280 units, as well as over 100 duplexes, and a mix of detached and semi-detached houses.
This fresh application, lodged on behalf of a company Montip Horizon Ltd, may see a doubling of the current residential element at Jacobs Island. It’s where McCarthy Developments acquired a residential, water-fronting site in the 1990s from Cork City Council, across the south ring road from Mahon Point, where co-developer Owen O’Callaghan acquired the commerical/retail chunk of former municipal land, kick-starting he enormous change of profile of Cork Harbour’s end-of-peninsula Mahon.
Coincidentally, this week’s application follows rejected prior plans by O’Callaghan Properties for a residential tower of up to 21 storeys, proposed back in 2008.
Architects for the very sizeable new developments are O’Mahony Pike, headed by architect Conor Kinsella, with planning consultants HWP (Harry Walsh Planning) acting for the applicants.
Requests to HWP to identify the developers were referred to the detailed planning application, made under the new An Bord Pleanála Strategic Housing Development application procedure which bypasses consideration by the local authority, for projects of certain size and scale.
Company records identify the directors of Montip Horizon Ltd as Virginia Cantillon and Brian Crowley, with Montip described as a legal and business services company, based in Cork’s Wilton. The application to the board says Montip “intends to develop the site with the consent of the owners”, named as T, T & M McCarthy of McCarthy Properties.
The SDZ planning file now gone to the planning board lists a series of prior and relevant previous applications for this vicinity by Mahon Point and Jacobs Island, both from O’Callaghan Properties and McCarthy Properties, charting a list of planning decisions ranging from refusals to conditional grants, and spanning hotel, retail and apartment elements.
Through most, the issue of traffic congestion at Mahon and the access ramps to the south ring and tunnel proximity have featured heavily, as does the issue of upgrades to the Dunkettle interchange at the tunnel’s other end.
This fresh SDZ approach for Montip, to include creche and three retail units, proposes landscaped communal open spaces, and three additional access points to the adjacent amenity Lough Mahon walkway/cycleway.
Planning consultants HWP add “the scheme will supplement the existing apartment blocks in the area and will deliver much-needed local convenience retail and services to existing and future residents of Jacobs Island. The proposed development will also provide for upgrades to a section of the Mahon Link Road (R852) to the North of the N40 interchange, to incorporate a dedicated bus lane which is intended to improve public transport and cycle connectivity to and from Jacobs Island.
The development proposes upgrades to a section of the Mahon Link Road to the North of the N40 interchange, with a dedicated bus lane to improve public transport and cycle connectivity to and from Jacobs Island.
Meanwhile, the Price Register shows resales of some 75 apartments, houses, and duplexes at Jacobs Island since 2010, ranging from lows of €60,000 a number of years ago to the mid and high €200,000s, most recently for apartments, and the highest price recorded was €650,000, for a house at Longshore Drive.
Details
: www.hwplanning.ie
