Grants for two huge €400k+ derelict houses on Cork's Blackrock Road - and you'll need every penny

Buying will be the cheapest part of the spend at  1 & 2 Ashton Place. Developers are to sell on Victorian-era houses in city which have lain idle for decades: they aim to build high-end apartments  to the rear

Nos 1 & 2 Ashton Place are at the city end of Cork's Blackrock Road near the school. Agent Jackie Cohaln say you'll get €70,000 toward the cost of each to conserve and make habitable once more

IMPRESSIVE buildings that have remained idle for decades on the city end of Cork’s Blackrock Road have been put up for sale by a company, Dwellings Development Blackrock Road Ltd. The buildings are near the SMA religious order’s Feltrim House, also close to a sale.

Work - lots of it -  needed at Nos 1 and 2: separate private buyers are being sought

Dwellings Development are awaiting the outcome of a third-party appeal against their plans for 38 apartments and three townhouses, pitched at traders-down, behind Nos 1 and 2 Ashton Place.

Each will have private garden space coming with them

The Dublin-based firm, with directors previously linked to McInerneys, acquired the site in 2022, after Cork City Council added the two large properties to the Derelict Sites Register in 2018.

They are now being sold independently of the development site, by the new owners, because “working on old properties like these isn't in their main skill set”, says estate agent Jackie Cohalan, of Cohalan Downing.

She is selling them independently to be restored as private homes by new owners, pricing the larger, No 1, which is 420 sq m on 0.2 of an acre, at €495,000; and No 2, which is 323 sqm, on 0.18 acres, at €445,000. They need full refurbishment, and derelict/vacant property grants of up to €70,000 each may apply.

Each dates to the 1840s, with late 19th century additions. They are mentioned in the National Inventory of Architecural Heritage, but are not protected structures. The Price Register shows the off-market sale of No 4 Ashton Place, last year, for €1.4m to a Cork City hotelier, who has applied for planning for a major extension and upgrade. No 3 Ashton Place made €960,000 in 2017.

“I’ve been asked to find buyers for them who’ll take them on as private homes. The location is superb,” says Ms Cohalan, adding that Dwellings Development are aiming to build behind “for the lucrative private trade-down market; this is a sector that is untapped in the city”.

Feltrim (outlined) on the Blackrock Road is being sold by the  SMA order: it had a €5m guide. Ashton Place is just on the city side

 Meanwhile, confirmation of sale terms for Feltrim, the large period home on three acres by the African Missions, is expected in the coming weeks: that property was offered with a €5m price tag. DETAILS: Cohalan Downing, 021-4277717, www.cohalandowning.ie

Feltrim