Hot and steamy at €485,000 Altamira where there's a sauna in the back garden

On a road of large detached homes, Altamira is close to bustling St Lukes Cross and less than a half hour's walk from Cork City centre

Sun, 31 Mar, 2024 - 00:00

Catherine Shanahan

Ballyhooley Road, Cork
€485,000
Size	177 sq m (1900 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2
BER	D1

BALLYVOLANE was in a nascent but evolving state around the time Altamira was built, when city fathers were busy creating new suburbs to house a growing population.

Now, nearly half a century later, housing activity has ramped up once again in the northside suburb with developments such as O’Flynn Construction’s 275-home Arderrow scheme on a 7.5-acre site off Ballyhooley Rd, near Ballyvolane shopping centre. The first phase of that development was launched just last month — a mix of two/three and four-bed townhouses and semi-ds — of which approximately 30 were released and sold via Sherry FitzGerald New Homes.

Dwarfing that development is the plan by John Crean-headed Longview Estates Ltd to build 753 units across six neighbourhoods/200 acres in the townlands of Lahardane/Ballincollie, in Ballyvolane, where €9m-worth of State-funded work is underway to deliver the necessary infrastructure to support the project.

Longview, backed by investor Temporis Capital (founded by Corkman David Watson) is waiting to hear from An Bord Pleanála whether it will extend the planning grant from seven years to 10. That decision is due on May 13, with Longview set to be one of the city’s largest ever housing developments.

Amidst all of this building, past and present, Altamira has stood its ground on a stretch of Ballyhooley Rd dominated by large, detached, one-off homes.

Built around 1980, it’s on a generous 0.2 acres, narrower but longer than its near-neighbours, set well back from the main Ballyhooley Rd, with easily as much, if not more, garden to the rear as there is out front. The vendors didn’t build it — they moved in in 1994 — but their father did do a tremendous amount of landscaping.

Out front, two gated entrances lead to a paved driveway and separate walkway, while out back, busy creativity reigns, in this south-facing, split-level garden which includes lawn, lawn ornaments, paved designated seating and BBQ areas, a water feature including a waterfall, ponds and a little bridge, lots of homegrown palm trees and shrubbery.

Tucked off to one side, more or less out of sight of the main house, is a single-storey building, which houses a sauna and gym.

While it sounds like the ideal way to begin or end your day, a new owner might fancy it as a home office — albeit a converted attic might suffice too.

Other accommodation at this 1,900sq ft home with attached garage includes a sunroom that leads to the rear garden, living room, sitting room, kitchen/dining area, three bedrooms, and two bathrooms.

A rejig of the layout to improve the kitchen-dining experience is most likely on the cards for a a new owner, along with modernising the property.

Kyle Kennedy of Hegarty Properties is handling the Altamira sale and says the location is “superb”, less than a 10-minute walk from bustling St Luke’s Cross and within a half-hour walk of the city centre, with plenty of schools and retail in the vicinity, while the entrance to the wonderful nature resource that is the Glen River Park is just across the road.