Talking the walk in Rochestown for €250k on the Lee to Sea Greenway

End terrace home by shoreline is a 'cheap' entry level to 'millionaire's road'

Sat, 24 Dec, 2022 - 12:46

Property Editor Tommy Barker reports

Rochestown village, Cork Harbour
€250,000 (under higher early offer)
Size	70 sq m (750 sq ft)
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	1
BER	G

YOU might be forgiven for thinking that buying a home by the water’s edge in Cork’s Rochestown would come at a princely, or even given the cachet of the address, a merchant princely, sum?

7 Saint Gerard's Place is already over its €250,000 AMV with estate agent Trish Stokes

But, in the case of 7 St Gerard’s Place and by the redeveloping harbour ‘Lee to Sea’ Greenway, you’d be wide of the mark: try €250,000 for size.

That’s the asking price on the end-terrace two-bed home, No 7, which is fresh to market with estate agent Trish Stokes in the ebbing weeks of 2022.

And that’s for an end-of- terrace, former County Council home on the eastern side of Rochestown village, beyond the former rail station along the route of the one-time Cork city/Blackrock to Passage West rail line (pictured here, right).

Former Rochestown rail station and platform: restaurant/cafe plans have been mooted

The service was initiated in 1850 but ceased running exactly 90 years ago and is now an increasingly appreciated public amenity, though plans for a café/restaurant nearby to facilitate Greenway walkers and cyclists by the old station platform appear to have hit the buffers with the local authority (now Cork City Council, since the city boundary extension) but upgrade works continue at pace.

No 7 is already somewhat upgraded and Ms Stokes says the well-presented home which dates to 1952 has been redecorated and recarpeted, while its kitchen and bathroom have also been refreshed in recent years.

It’s one of c 20 homes in a row comprising St Gerard’s Place backing onto the estuary waters of the Mahon/Douglas estuary, almost in a lagoon framed to the west by Harty’s Quay, and to the east by Hop Island.

Like most of its neighbours, it’s got an enclosed front garden and a decent-sized wedge-shaped back garden, running away from the house towards a rear access land which fringes the tidal shoreline and which is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

If being developed now, it would be considered ‘prime real estate,’ and quite likely is highly valued by residents of the adjoining terraced homes over the past 70 years.

Since it was delivered in ’52, it has since been joined by a lesser number of detached homes at Island View and about half a dozen detached homes on big sites eastwards towards Hop Island and its long-established equestrian centre.

When new plans were being drafted over the last several years to enhance the Greenway’s eastward route toward Passage West, a suggestion to run a route or a boardwalk behind Island View, St Gerard’s Place and the handful of detached home alongside was initially mooted, but has since been shelved because of the SAC status and on grounds of privacy and security concerns of the residents.

Tide turning for Rochestown and Greenway

It means they (and by consequence whoever buys No 7) retain the relative privacy to the back and rear access, but it also means that Greenway walkers and cyclists will have to continue to do this short section of the 7km route on the public pavement alongside the busy Rochestown Road.

Interior of 7 Saint Gerard's Place, Rochestown

Auctioneer Ms Stokes has No 7 under immediate and early offer, already over its €250k AMV, and she says her vendors are relocating.

The Price Register show No 7 last selling last back in 2010 for €155,000.

More recently, No 1 sold a year ago for €260,000 (it had made €155k in 2015) and No 16 also sold in 2021 at a recorded €326,000, and had been significantly extended to the rear.

In all, seven of the 16 St Gerard’s Place homes seem to have changed hands in a little over a decade.

Rear view of No 7 Saint Gerard's Place, with room to expand

This latest arrival has just over 750 sq ft and is in very good overall order (but gets a lowly G BER), ideal for first-time buyers or even downsizers, with public transport on the doorstep, as well as a water aspect and proximity at the back.

Up the Monastery Road is the renowned Cinnamon Cottage food emporium, and although this Rochestown area has swollen to about 10,000 in population, dereliction still exists at a few key properties.

Idle for a while is the former Rochestown Inn, a high-profile property currently in a semi-redeveloped state, while the former lodge of Woodville House is in a sorry state across the junction, facing Harty’s Quay.

Locals say a coherent strategy is needed to create a heritage hub around the village integrating some of these older properties including the former red-brick Victorian railway station house, which was bought by a private investor in 2018 for a recorded €205,000.

Some additional weatherproofing/conservation work is currently being done on this ex-station structure though restaurant/cafe plans drafted by architect Chris Ralphs now appear to be shelved, temporarily at least, after overtures to add additional seating didn’t get a positive response from platform owners City Hall.

The plan was objected to by City Hall’s Infrastructure and Roads sections as they say it forms part of the Greenway Improvement Scheme’s second phase, due to go to An Bord Pleanála for planning approval since last summer.

VERDICT: While ’big picture’ thinking around amenities on the Greenway seems to be a slow train coming, the opportunity to snap up No 7 is a fast-track chance to enjoying the current wonderful amenities on this historic harbour fringe.