Say a novena for one of nine new-builds on Cork's plummy Orchard Road: they're c €1.3m - each

Peachy address for these 2,500 sq ft new homes but at 'region of €1.3m' each via agents Savills, the fact there's nine coming for sale will impact Cork's upper end of the market for both new and second hand homes

CGI of the nine Ecklinville homes on Cork's Orchard Road, where high-end prices are the norm

Orchard Road, Cork City
region of €1.3 million each, fully finished
Size	224/232 sq m (2,413-/2,507 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	4/5
BER	Will be A-rated

THE history of the leafy, suburban Cork grounds for this scheme of nine detached c€1.3m five bed homes is recalled in the name Ecklinville – after a 200-year old heritage apple variety, which may have grown here at Orchard Road, off College Road, cultivated and recorded in the early 1800s in Belfast.

UCC's medical and nursing schools are now located at  Brookfield House. Pic Denis Scannell

The Orchard Road address has always carried cachet amongst Cork city home hunters: once part of the extensive grounds of Brookfield House and its many acres of fruit and vegetables, stretching to the Model Farm Road, it has many superb homes, built in the early, mid and late 1900s.

Many, too, are in the million-euro plus price bracket and the location is much-loved by medics, so near to the CUH, the Bon Secours and UCC’s ever-expanding campus and medical complex at Brookfield House.

Work in progress on Ecklinville, Orchard road, Cork. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

Now, the long-settled, ‘venerable’ and varied Orchard Road one-offs are being joined by nine, brand new, A-rated, five-bed, fully-finished, three-storey 2,400/2,500 sq ft family homes, all broadly similar bar for aspect, and they’re guided at/from c €1.3m, by selling agents Michael O’Donovan and Catherine McAuliffe of Savills, for DOB Developments.

DOB, second generation in the development business under Denise O’Brien and Shane Keogh, have a track record in house building (Crawford Hall in Blackrock, Beaumont etc) and quality, purpose built student accommodation. They bought Orchard Road’s largest home, San Paula, on an acre, four years ago for a recorded €1.9m, and secured planning for these nine homes.

Original Orchard Road house called San Paula was bought for €1.9m on an acre by DOB Developments

They later changed plans, considering a five-storey, 30 apartment scheme which got planning, but local residents took a High Court challenge last year and DOB are back to Plan A, with the original house demolished and foundations going in for this niche scheme of upper-level priced new builds.

Ecklinville’s ‘novena’ of A-rated houses follows on last year’s completion and sale of seven similarly expensive, brand new, out-of-the-box family homes a kilometre to the west, at Vailima on the Model Farm Road.

Sold out: Vailima on Cork's  Model Farm Road by developer Killian Kelly/KACE.

Five of Vailima’s seven sold off-market (the original house sold in 2016 at in 2016 at €1.35m and was demolished) , the developer kept one, and just one other went to the open market, No 5, showing on the Price Register at €1.125m; No 4 Vailima shows at €1.321m, and the rest have yet to surface on the Register which records over a dozen house sales on the Model Farm Road at €1m+.

The arrival of nine more homes over the €1m price level will test the depth of the Cork house market. There are home hunters in this league, but how many remains to be seen; pace of sales will also be intriguing, at a time of economic uncertainty.

Indicative CGI of interiors at Ecklinville

On the positive side, those who do buy will get extremely energy efficient homes with low, future running costs, not an inconsiderable issue when energy costs having been escalating, as have construction costs.

Buyers at Ecklinville may also be looking at older, second-hand homes in the city’s older suburbs (most also on larger grounds ) but often such houses, even at this price level, need further building work and upgrading, discouraging potential buyers at a time of high construction costs, building delays and price uncertainty.

Ecklinville: CGI

That at least is not a consideration at Ecklinville, in a setting as good as they come, within walking distance of schools, colleges, shops, hospitals, sports facilities, the Lee Fields and the city centre.

VERDICT: Plummy property location.