Neighbours seek to cash in on garden site

A GROUP of neighbours have clubbed together to sell a portion of their rear gardens as a job lot to a developer keen to build new homes.

Residents on Clune Road in Finglas, north Dublin have decided to sell their combined site of 1.36 acres for €7.5m, which would allow a developer build up to 90 housing units.

And even when the back gardens are sold, most of the 22 neighbours will still have 15 metres of outdoor space in which to enjoy the summer sunshine.

The residents have joined a new group of entrepreneurs keen to cash in on the value of their homes in sought-after city areas. Last year an estate agent selling 18 cottages as one €18m lot in Meakstown, also in Finglas, said he had at least three more similar sites for sale in the Dublin area.

Five residents in the Sunnyhill housing estate in Cabinteely also clubbed together in the hope of raising €30m from the sale of their homes, while neighbours of Ballycullen Cottages in Rathfarnham also sought €17m for their three-acre site.

Yesterday Rory O'Kelly said that neighbours decided to 'test the market' after a number of them were approached by individual developers keen to get land close to Finglas village which is earmarked for redevelopment.

"A few of the properties were approached to sell their gardens for individual developments and we just clubbed together and a company was approached to test the market," he said yesterday.

Location

The site is located on the north-east section of Finglas, and directly joins sites belonging to Dublin City Council, the HSE, Eircom and An Post on Seamus Ennis Road.

The Dublin City Development Plan has zoned the area as suitable for new homes as part of a 'framework plan' to create a new commercial and residential centre for Finglas Village.

The council is keen to see proper development in the area, and Mr O'Kelly said yesterday city bosses were not enthusiastic about single homes being built.

"I think a couple of families were approached by individual developers first looking to build single developments, but the city council weren't happy with single units because the site should be developed at once," he said.

Paul Melia
Irish Independent