First look at Cork's Horgan’s Quay €140m apartments

Opening this summer for registrations

River views: The Kitchen/ living room of a two-bed at Horgan's Quay apartments. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

CORK City’s newest large-scale apartment scheme, €140m 302-bed Horgan’s Quay, will open its registration portal to prospective tenants by the end of the summer, some of whom can look forward to enjoying the best river views in the city.

A sneak preview of the stylish new apartments by the Irish Examiner can reveal that those closest to the river have dazzling views east and south, with room-height windows looking down river, and balconies that look across the River Lee to Kennedy Quay and the evolving South Docks.

Phelim O'Neill, (left) director of development LPA and Sean McGinley, construction director BAM on the balcony of a two bed at Horgan's Quay apartments, overlooking The River Lee. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The unit mix — 108 one-bed and 194 two-bed apartments — include 106 that are dual aspect. All have terraces or balconies, while apartment sizes range from 60-65sq m for a one-bed to 75sq m for a two-bed.

All come with open-plan kitchen/dining/living areas that open onto balconies. Fixed furniture (Kube kitchens, sanitary ware, and wardrobes) is included, along with two storage spaces (one is a utility).

Heating is air-to-air and all units have an excellent A2 energy rating. The two-bed units include one en suite; all apartments have a USB and USB-C charging ports.

As the urban block is wrapped around three sides of a raised courtyard, residents will have access to an open split-level outdoor space, with the historic Station Masters’ Building at the lower level, restored and retained in Irish Rail ownership. Ground level units are earmarked for retail/commercial use.

The attractive O’Mahony Pike-designed addition to the North Docks, developed in a joint venture between builder BAM and Clarendon Properties under the banner of HQ Developments, was made possible with the backing of the Land Development Agency (LDA), after it initially stalled due to financial constraints.

View of Horgan's Quay apartments (centre) Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Work began on site in 2024 and BAM construction director Shaun McGinley said they are “aiming for completion by Q3 this year”. More than 1500 workers were inducted to work on the project since it started and the numbers are currently averaging about 200 per day. It’s BAM’s biggest project in Cork to date.

LDA director of development Phelim O’Neill said they intend to “start running a [tenant] lottery prior to completion of the scheme to minimise delays in getting tenants in”.

“There should be people in before the end of 2026,” he said adding that for now, all of the units will be cost rental, which equates to 25% below the local market rate. Household income limits to qualify for cost-rental accommodation in Cork are currently set at €59,000, but Mr O’Neill said they were working on “pushing up the limit, so that more workers can apply”.

“There are about 10,000 jobs within a 10-15 walk of Horgan’s Quay and these apartments are going to be very attractive to many of those workers,” Mr O’Neill said. The LDA’s cost rental units were proving “hugely attractive” he said, and were regularly oversubscribed.

“For example, we had 1,600 applications for 81 units in Castletroy, Co Limerick.”

Asked what the monthly rent might be, Mr O’Neill said that while their average rent across different schemes is €1,500 a month “every scheme is different”.

“We look at where the market is, and we gauge from there”. The level of subvention they receive from Government “dictates how cheap we can make them”, he said.

Mr O’Neill was complimentary of BAM’s involvement in the project, describing them as “very positive partners, and I think the finished project will prove that”. He said Irish Rail, who own the six-acre site the scheme is built on and who have agreed to a 300-year lease, were also excellent stakeholders.

He said the LDA — who have committed €500m to housing delivery in Cork — is currently working with Irish Rail on developing “potentially another 400-500 units” on land further down the quay, in the CIE yard immediately north of Kent station, that runs down to McMahon timber yard.

The LDA is already active on several other sites in Cork including in Shanakiel where 265 homes are under construction at the former St Kevin’s Hospital, and at Marina Quarter, where 337 units are being developed by Glenveagh Properties PLC.