Intensification of Cork's purpose-built student accommodation gathers pace near UCC

Victoria Cross district sees further ten-storey, 243-bed block for students near controversial Orchard Road site

Wed, 24 Nov, 2021 - 19:31

Property Editor Tommy Barker reports

PLANNING permission has been granted for a further tall, c €30million+, 243-bed student accommodation complex at Cork city’s Victoria Cross, on a former garage site which has been sold for €4.1 million.

It features several blocks, including one of ten storeys, facing UCC’s own ongoing Crow’s Nest 255-bed facility, under advanced construction with Sisk and which itself has four blocks of seven to nine storeys, under the shadow of the 16-storey County Hall.

It marks further high density concentration of purpose-built student apartments and beds just west of the main UCC campus, in a city quadrant where UCC will itself control up to and over 1,500 beds.

It’s also where the private/investor sector continues to roll out several thousands more purpose-built student beds, in locations such as the Western Road, Bandon Road, Farranlea Road, Carrigrohane Road (with over 600 units under consideration on the former Coca Cola bottling plant) and at South Main Street on the former Beamish & Crawford site by the long-awaited Events Centre, and the Counting House office scheme just completed by BAM.

This latest student accommodation site, at Victoria Cross, is to be delivered by Bellmount Developments’ Séamus and Pádraig Kelleher, owners of a successful motor tyre network and who acquired this site from Honda dealer Pat Quinlan via agent Matt Fallon for over €4m.

The Kelleher brothers also have an adjacent site on the other side of Orchard Road on Victoria Cross Road with planning in place for a 137-bed development, in three blocks of up to five storeys tall.

Combined, they now have scope to add 380 student beds to the immediate area.

That site had been a tyre depot in recent years, and before that was owned by banana and fruit importing company as a depot.

Design for this ex-Honda garage site, most recently used as a tyre depot (and which doesn’t include the former Wylam Chinese restaurant), is by Cork-based Butler Cammoranesi architects.

Also adjacent are developments such as Victoria Cross and Victoria Mills, with previous developers of such well-established schemes including Fleming Construction and Paul Montgomery.

More recent large-scale player arrivals (excluding UCC itself which has acquired several sites with planning or once constructed) include the likes of Uninest with three sites (Brewery Quarter/Lee Point, Melbourn Point by the MTU, and the completed Amnis House on Western Road) as well as Round Hill Capital and NBK Capital Funds.

Among the more locally based operators are Denis O’Brien Developments/ScholarLee, who had their Bord Pleanála planning grant for a 216-bed/30 apartment development on Orchard Road near Victoria Cross referred to the High Court by local residents, the Orchard Road and Grove Planning and Environmental Protection Group, late last year.

That contested plan is for a five-storey development on the site of a private house called San Paula, sold by previous owner Catherine Neville in 2018 for €1.9 million, and where plans for nine high-end detached homes worth up to or over €1m each were dropped on the San Paula site in favour of the proposed 216-bed scheme, currently resting on a High Court judgement.

Site selling agent for the Kelleher/Quinlan site at Victoria Cross Road, now successfully through the planning process, Matt Fallon, said he understood that Bellmount Developments intend to develop it themselves, but they are certain to have purchase overtures from other dedicated operators/funds, if not from UCC itself.

Meanwhile, that significant €4.1m Cork city suburban site sale to Bellmount Developments has just been trumped by the same auctioneer in a €5.8 million deal – only in this case, it’s of a pig farm. Mr Fallon confirmed the sale of a c 200 acre farm holding, in two blocks, near Bansha, Co Tippeary.

The former dairy farm with extensive pig units was sold on behalf of Glen of Aherlow Cooperative after the dairy herd was dispersed and it was bought by Ireland’s largest pork processing company Rosderra Irish Meats.

DETAILS: Property Partners Matt Fallon 021-4277877.

PLANNING permission has been granted for a further tall, c €30million+, 243-bed student accommodation complex at Cork City's Victoria Cross, on a former garage site which has sold for €4.1 million.

It features several blocks including one of ten storeys, facing UCC's own ongoing Crow's Nest 255-bed storey facility, under advanced construction with Sisk and which itself has four blocks of seven to nine storeys under the shadow of County Hall.

It marks further high density concentration of purpose-built student apartments and beds just west of the main UCC campus, in a city quadrant where UCC will itself control up to and over 1,500 beds.

It's also where the private/investor sector continues to roll out several thousands more purpose-built student beds, in locations such as the Western Road, Bandon Road, Farranlea Road, Carrigrohane Road (with over 600 units under consideration on the former Coca Cola bottling plant) and at South Main Street on the former Beamish & Crawford site by the long-awaited Events Centre, and the Counting House office scheme just completed by BAM.

This latest student accommodation site, at Victoria Cross, is to be delivered by Bellmount Developments' Séamus and Pádraig Kelleher, owners of a successful motor tyre network and who acquired this site from Honda dealer Pat Quinlan via agent Matt Fallon for over €4m.

The Kelleher brothers also have an adjacent site on the other side of Orchard Road on Victoria Cross Road with planning in place for a 137-bed development, in three blocks of up to five storeys tall.

Combined, they now have scope to add 380 student beds to the immediate area. That site had been a tyre depot in recent years, and before that was owned by banana and fruit importing company as a depot.

Design for this ex-Honda garage site most recently used as a tyre depot (and which doesn't include the former Wylam Chinese restaurant) is by Cork-based Butler Cammoranesi) architects. Also adjacent are developments such as Victoria Cross and Victoria Mills, with previous developers of such well-established schemes including Fleming Construction and Paul Montgomery.

More recent large-scale player arrivals (excluding UCC itself which has acquired several sites with planning or once constructed) include the likes of Uninest with three sites (Brewery Quarter/Lee Point, Melbourn Point by the MTU, and the completed Amnis House on Western Road,) as well as Round Hill Capital and NBK Capital Funds.

Among the more-locally based operators are Denis O'Brien Developments/ScholarLee, who had their Bord Pleanála planning grant for a 216-bed/30 apartment development on Orchard Road near Victoria Cross referred to the High Court by local residents, the Orchard Road and Grove Planning and Environmental Protection Group, late last year.

Site selling agent for the Kelleher/Quinlan site at Victoria Cross Road now successfully through the planning process, Matt Fallon, said he understood that Bellmount Developments intend to develop it themselves: but, they are certain to have purchase overtures from other dedicated operators/funds, if not from UCC itself.

Meanwhile, that significant €4.1m Cork city suburban site sale to Bellmount Developments has just been trumped by the same auctioneer in a €5.8 million deal – only in this case, it's of a pig farm.

Mr Fallon confirmed the sale of a c 200 acre farm holding, in two blocks, near Bansha, Co Tippeary.

The former dairy farm with extensive pig units was sold on behalf of Glen Of Aherlow Cooperative after the dairy herd was dispersed and it was bought by Ireland's largest pork processing company Rosderra Irish Meats.

DETAILS: Property Partners Matt Fallon 021-4277877.