€47m Odlum apartments sale tops Cork City property deals this year

The deal between the Land Development Agency and O'Callaghan Properties was a forward-funding arrangement to kickstart the quayside project

Works are underway at the former Odlum building at Kennedy Quay, Cork City in a joint apartment venture between OCP (O'Callaghan Properties) and the Land Development Agency.

A €47m deal involving the sale of 103 yet-to-be-built apartments on Kennedy Quay to the Land Development Agency (LDA) looks set to rank as the biggest property transaction of the year in Cork city.

The upfront payment by the state agency to development partners O’Callaghan Properties (OCP) injected capital into a stalled project to regenerate Kennedy Quay, first unveiled by OCP about five years ago. A website set up by the developer shows the new neighbourhood has been named “The Flour Mills” - a nod to one of the most important surviving industrial buildings in Cork’s South Docks, the former Odlum flour mill.

Building contractor C-Field Construction is already on-site laying foundations for the first strand of the project which is focused on the landmark Odlum building. The redevelopment of the iconic redbrick premises – where Odlum ceased operations in 2009 - will include 103 riverside apartments to the side and rear.

The residential scheme on Kennedy Quay is just one element of a €350m OCP game-changing docklands transformation plan that also includes 420,000sq ft of office space, retail, and a rehabilitation hospital on a 4.16-acre site between Kennedy Quay, Victoria Rd, Marina Walk, and Mill Rd.

The LDA’s involvement in the residential strand was revealed in the Irish Examinerin August and the Property Price Register records the deal between OCP and the LDA under the heading “Lands and buildings, situated at Kennedy Quay and Mill Road”, with a value ex-VAT of €42m, or €47m including VAT, which equates to about €456,00 per apartment. It’s by far the biggest Cork city property deal recorded this year, with the c €32m sale of Copley Court to US real-state group Greystar the runner-up. The 265-bed purpose-built student accommodation complex on Copley St was acquired from Elkstone Capital in August.

The commencement of work by OCP on Kennedy Quay kickstarts what will be a “sequential development” process in the South Docks, according to OCP chief Brian O’Callaghan, and it follows on from an extensive collaboration process between the developer, the LDA and Cork City Council. 

Virtual image of the new apartments

The 103 apartments are expected to take about 27 months to complete, meaning residents could be living in the first of the new A-rated homes by the end of 2028. The units include 45 one-bedroom, 42 two-bedroom, and 16 three-bedroom apartments.

Virtual image of what the new Oldum building will look like

Meanwhile across the River Lee on Horgan’s Quay at another LDA-backed project, the window for applications for the agency’s first cost-rental apartments has now closed. Out of a total of 302 units, 192 were released, of which 70 (26%) were reserved initially for people whose workplace is within a five mile radius of the Kent Station-adjacent development. The HQ scheme, delivered in partnership with Clarendon Properties/BAM, was the first apartment block of scale in the city since The Elysian was delivered in 2008.

Horgan's Quay apartments

The LDA has plans for multiple other sites in and outside Cork city, with work well advanced on c 270 homes at the former St Kevin’s hospital site in Shanakiel, while at Marina Depot, it’s partnering with developer Glenveagh Properties in a €150m deal to deliver 337 homes in the first phase in a multi-phase 1,178 apartment development. 

Marina Depot by Glenveagh Homes at Monahan Road, Cork City

Hundreds more homes are earmarked for other Marina-adjacent sites, including at Bord na Móna’s Sutton’s Coals yard; at a nearby ESB site, and ultimately, in the longterm, Tivoli Docks. Further out of town, IDA lands in Kilbarry have been transferred to LDA ownership for the building of hundreds of homes, while in Cork city centre, work on 147 apartments on a site near The Elysian is due to get underway next year, in a partnership with Cork City Council. Meanwhile, a contractor is due to be appointed shortly to deliver 345 LDA-backed homes on former ESB lands in Wilton.

Back in the docklands, HQ apartments and The Flour Mills’ units are part of a much wider regeneration project - the most ambitious in the country - which will ultimately span 147 hectares, delivering up to 10,000 new homes, with capacity for around 22,500 residents. The project has government backing and a committed €353m in funding.