Will a number of new builds follow sale of €650k 'rural retreat' in Cork's fancied Hettyfield?

Bord Pleanala is to rule on appeal over nine new builds by developer David Walsh  at Cork’s salubrious suburban haven of Hettyfield

Laherdane at Hettyfield in Douglas, Cork.

Hettyfield, Douglas, Cork
€650,000
Size	142 sq m (1,500 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	2
BER	F (TBC)

The fact there’s a live planning application, now under an Bord Pleanala appeal, for a number of new homes in Cork’s salubrious suburban haven of Hettyfield won’t make a blind bit of difference to whoever buys this detached mid-1900s home called Laherdane — its tranquillity will by and large remain unperturbed by any new arrivals.

Called after a townland near Cork’s Whites Cross, Lahardane or Leherdane (the spelling does vary) this Laherdane brings a bit of  rural-feeling  retreat to a highly-regarded suburban setting, a spot where homes sell for above-average prices — even for Douglas.

With estate agent Timothy Sullivan, and an €650,000 AMV, it’s a detached four-bedroomed family home of c 1,500 sq ft, in good condition for its age, in a great location and four-bedroomed, with a white cherry blossom in its front garden.

Made to measure for its original owners (the man of the house worked for Magee tweeds and travelled extensively), it also gains  from being in the quieter cul-de-sac section of Hettyfield’s square grid of roads, whilst its back garden is due south in terms of bright aspect, mature, and utterly privates.

Diagonally facing it is a just upgraded and larger detached home, Cedar House, showing on the Price Register as having made €765,000 in 2019, about €100k less than its initial €870k AMV.

The 2,600 sq ft 1960s-built Cedar House had been the private family home of the late builder Pierce Moore, who had built a number of Hettyfield’s solid houses many decades back, and Moore family members built a contemporary home in its back garden when they put Cedar House on the market. 

Laherdane  was completed by Pierce Moore in 1963

Now, it appears, the builders may be back in Hettyfield, pending the outcome of a Bord Pleanala appeal to a very recent grant by Cork City Council for permission for a new development, granting permission to KMR Developments for nine houses, five detacheds and four semis.

The initial application for the infill site, replacing an old cottage, was for 12 houses, and director of KMR Developments is David Walsh of Rock Forest East, Mallow. Mr Walsh previously developed a number of one-off, upmarket homes and niche developments when associated with companies like Rock Forest Homes and Into the Future homes.

Among Mr Walsh’s previous projects was at Greenbanks, across the Well Road from Hettyfield, a one-time home of Monica Gallagher, mother of guitar legend Rory Gallagher.

A CGI from 2016 of Greenbanks, Well Road, where the last house is now being occupied

Greenbanks saw four new builds sold at prices from €850,000 to €1 million, and the last, final and impressive fifth home, larger and more contemporary than the others and down by Douglas Estuary, has just been completed.

If and when any construction starts at KMR’s site, there’ll be quite the market stir: the current appeal on the nine houses granted planning to An Bord Pleanala is from a Hettyfield resident raising boundary issues.

Attractive gardens are a sun trap

So, now to Laherdane: who’ll bring a builder? To do what? In the one family’s hands for decades, it’s now an executor sale, and appears to have been well-tended and much appreciated, with very pleasant gardens front and back.

It weighs in at 1,500 sq ft, with four first floor bedrooms and family bathroom, and at ground there are two interconnected receptions to the front, each with fireplaces, bright central hall (the entrance door is to the side), and towards the back is a well-sized and guest WC/wetroom.

The kitchen is bright, with pale units, gas hob and light-coloured tiled floor and a door by the back windows leads to a south-facing sun room, overlooking the stepped back garden. Pleasant-looking Laherdane, with its decorative window shutters on three of the front façade’s four windows (the fourth has a bay window) has off-street parking to the side, with door access to a deep garage, ideal for storage, or ready to be upgraded and extended into.

Even though it’s likely to get a fairly major overhaul, it’s good enough as it stands for new owners to move in and get to know it first. Meanwhile, the Price Register shows 22 resales with a Hettyfield address, from mews townhouses down by the Well Road end through semis and detacheds. Top prices have gone from relatively affordable to the €900k mark to €1.4m in the case of a home called Ashton, in 2018.

Close to schools, services and all of Douglas’s shops and amenities, three Hettyfield homes have sold within the past year, at prices of from €900,000 (Clonmeen), €717,000 (Denmead) and €630,000, the latter not identified by name but likely to be Jenel, which had an asking price drop from an initial €650,000 in 2019 to €595,000 after a change of agents.

VERDICT: When the triple whammy property cliché location, location, location gets trotted out, it might as well be talking about Hettyfield, Hettyfield, Hettyfield.