The Irish arm of international property company Hines has put an indicative price tag of €64.57m on 113 apartments and studios it is planning to sell for social housing to Dublin City Council.
The planned sale of the 113 apartments and studios forms part of Hines’s revised plans to build a 1,131-unit apartment scheme on the grounds of the former Holy Cross College on Clonliffe Road in Drumcondra, Dublin 3.
Hines partner fund, CWTC Multi-Family ICAV, is seeking a 10-year planning permission for the scheme that includes a 13-storey apartment block.
The scheme is envisaged to have 268 studios, 282 one-bed apartments, 392 two-bed apartments, 132 three-bed units and 57 four-bed units.
RM Block
The €64.57 million indicative price “for further discussion/agreement” for the 113 units puts an estimated value of €646.6 million on the 1,131-unit scheme.
Asked about a development timeline for the new scheme, senior managing director at Hines Ireland Brian Moran said earlier this week: “All going well, we would like to have a permit by the middle of next year – construction could commence as soon as possible after that.”
The extension planning documentation as part of the large-scale residential development (LRD) scheme shows that the Hines entity is planning to sell 39 studios, 11 one-bed units and 63 two-bed four-person to comply with the Part V obligations to provide 10 per cent of the overall scheme for social housing.
The range in indicative prices ranges from €717,843 for the two-bed units, €569,892 for one-bedroom units and €360,266 for studios.
In a letter to the council, Mr Moran said that the information enclosed in the Part V pack “will ultimately be subject to possible amendment and formal agreement with Dublin County Council”.
It is only when planning permission is secured that the two sides can enter negotiations on price.
A planning report prepared by Brady Shipman Martin lodged with the LRD scheme states that “the proposed development has been designed to sit comfortably within its surrounds, minimising impact on adjacent developments and the protected structures”.
Brady Shipman Martin states that a “do nothing” scenario for the lands in the context of the ongoing housing crisis in Dublin city “is considered to represent an inefficient, uneconomical and socially suboptimal use of the Holy Cross College lands”.
The new application comes four years after Hines lodged its original plan for 1,614 apartment units for the site.
An Coimisiún Pleanála granted planning permission, but that was quashed by the High Court after a challenge was brought by Fionnuala Sherwin, a resident of Knocksinna Grove, Foxrock, Co Dublin.
