Key site in the centre of Carrigaline for sale for €3.2m

Site has approval for a residential and commercial, mixed-use development

A 4.5-acre town centre site in Carrigaline, Co Cork, with approval for a substantial mixed-use development, including 86 homes, is expected to attract strong interest.

A prime site in the thriving Cork satellite town of Carrigaline with the benefit of planning consent for 86 homes has been launched to market with a guide price of €3.2m.

The 4.5-acre (1.84ha) site — where the guide price equates to €711,111 per acre — has approval for a substantial mixed-use development, including a diverse range of house types, four commercial units, a public plaza, and car and bicycle parking spaces (47 and 174 respectively). Pedestrian access is also provided as part of the scheme.

The permitted housing on the strategically located town centre site includes a mix of apartments and duplex units, ranging in size from one-bed to three-bed.

A portion of the homes — 17 in total — will be set aside for social and affordable housing as required by planning legislation.

The specific breakdown includes:

• 11 three-bed duplex units;
• 17 two-bed duplex units;
• 9 two-bed own door ground floor apartments;
• 12 one-bed own door ground floor apartments;
• 19 one-bed apartments;
• 18 two-bed apartments;
• A cafe, gym, hair salon, day care, and newsagents are proposed for the ground floor commercial units.

The site is being sold by Boar’s Head Ltd, a Cork City-registered company whose principal activity is development of building projects, with Brendan Flannery as director.

Boar’s Head obtained planning permission for the mixed-use scheme last October, having acquired the site from German budget supermarket chain Aldi.

Aldi, who bought eight acres in total some years ago, was required to submit a master plan for the site as part of their own planning application to build a €10m store. Once permission was granted, they returned surplus land — 5.21 acres — to market in 2023 with an overall guide price of €2.9m.

Commercial agents Cushman & Wakefield sold the land in two lots in 2024: 4.5 acres to Boar’s Head, and the remainder to fast food chain McDonalds who are currently building a drive-thru on a profile corner site.

Boar’s Head has now returned its 4.5-acre lot to market with the same agents, with the benefit of planning permission.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Philip Horgan and Peter O’Flynn said the site is “ideally positioned in a highly sought-after town centre location” touching onto Main St, with immediate access via Pottery Rd — “significantly enhancing connectivity to and from the site”.

They note the opportunity is “further strengthened” by an adjoining parcel of approximately 1.5 acres, which is currently in use in part as an overflow car park by nearby Supervalu.

“Together, the land represents a substantial and strategically located town centre development opportunity,” the agents said.

They expect the fully serviced site to appeal “to a broad range of developers seeking a high-quality, well-located opportunity”.

Several developers have been active in Carrigaline where housing demand is high, including Astra Construction, Ruden Homes and Bridgewater Homes. The land is available as a single lot.

Earlier this year, Cork County Council bought the home ground of Avondale Football Club — a 4.62-acre (1.9ha) site in Carrigaline —in a deal valued at €2.5m. The land is zoned residential and could potentially accommodate up to 70 homes. It’s about 1km from the town centre.

The Boar’s Head site — adjacent to Carrigaline Main St, between Carrigaline Court Hotel and Supervalu — was part of land that had an ambitious development history dating back to the early 2000s, with joint development plans at the time by veteran retailer developers the Love family’s Shipton Group, with local SuperValu retailer and hotelier Barry Collins also in the frame at the time.

However, the plan was deemed dependent on the western relief road, with compulsory purchase orders issued around 2007, just prior to the country’s economic crash. The relief road only finally opened in 2022.

The commuter town has expanded greatly in the past decade or so and is now the largest town in County Cork with a population in excess of 18,000 — and growing.

It’s close to several major employers including Pepsi and a glut of multinational pharmaceutical firms.

Cushman & Wakefield said a “combination of strong local demand, employment density, and ongoing population growth continues to underpin the town’s attractiveness as a development location”.

The under-construction M28 motorway connecting the city with Ringaskiddy should also transform traffic and commuting times in the area.

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