Familiar faces behind Frankfield's first housing development in 20 years
THERE are some seasoned chestnuts involved in the c €10 million new house development called The Oaks, about to shoot up in Cork’s outer suburban Douglas.
First up, and notably, The Oaks is said to be the first new homes development in over 20 years in the extensive Frankfield catchment, just south of Douglas and just a short distance off the Kinsale Road flyover.
It’s set to include three- and four-bed homes, sited by the long-established Bellevue Estate. And, notable too are the profile and background of the main driver, and the funding model, as the development company says it also has lined up sites in Ballinlough, Ballincollig and Carrigtwohill for further schemes.
The Oaks is being developed by Calder Initiatives Ltd, a recently formed Irish company headed by Brian Madden, who was a main player in the 2000s across Ireland and pan-European development through his role as Group Financial Director in Howard Holdings plc. During the early to mid-2000s, HH projects grew from tens to hundreds, and then on to proposed billions of euro in schemes and sites assembled in Cork, Dublin, London, Poland, Italy, and beyond, as far away as South Africa.
Mr Madden’s wide experience now comes to bear initially on the — by comparison, modest — 24-house development The Oaks at Bellevue, Frankfield, where a prior development/construction firm Rockforest Homes got permission for 24 homes, after a grant from An Bord Pleanála. Rockforest Homes will retain a junior partner role in the development, and do the physical construction of The Oaks.
The houses range from three-bed semi-ds at the €370,000 price level to four-bed semis at €445,000, with a number of this latter, large type reserved: sales are being handled by Brian Madden’s brother, estate agent Declan Madden, and Pat Clancy of Redford Properties, with a formal release early next month.
Providing finance is Ciaran Lynch of CLFS Wealth Management Ltd, already involved with Calder Initiatives on some schemes, along with Castlehaven Finance, headed in Cork by John Paco Fitzgerald: Castlehaven Finance recently got a €2bn credit line into the Irish market via US-based investor Avenue Capital, who bought out London-based Pollen Street.
Avenue aims to lend €500m per annum into the Irish house sector.
Architects for The Oaks are Deady Gahan, with engineer David Butler, O’Shea Leader and QS is Glenn McCarthy, MAC Construction Consultants.
Calder’s Brian Madden said, “excitement is building around this unique residential scheme, noting proximity to a huge range of well-established services."
www.theoaksbellevue.com
