Work has started on a major development at the site of the former Dun Laoghaire golf club in south County Dublin - one of the few active building projects in the country.
Cosgrave Developments plans to build 856 residential units - made up of apartments and houses - on the site, as well as offices, retail units and an eight-acre park.
The firm was granted permission for the development of the 78-acre site by An Bord Pleanála last year.
Paul McGrath, a spokesman for Cosgrave Developments, said the decision to start building showed the confidence that the company had in the site’s potential.
‘‘It is a bit of a toe in the water,” McGrath said, adding that it was the only active residential project the company had under way. ‘‘It is a great site in an area that is performing reasonably well in terms of secondhand house sales.”
McGrath said that groundwork had started on the site and the first phase of the project would be finished ‘‘at the back end of 2010’’. Prices for the properties have not yet been set.
Cosgrave recently applied for planning permission for further development of the site, which is off Glenageary Road Upper and Eglinton Park. The firm lodged a planning application with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council for 577 apartments, 28 houses and a creche.
Based on the planning application for the first phase of development, when almost 450 parties lodged objections, the recent application is likely to be contested.
Cosgrave Developments bought the golf club site in 2002. It was reported to have paid €20 million to the members, and the deal also included a land swap, with Cosgrave providing a 27-hole golf course, clubhouse and facilities on a 300-acre site near Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.
The Dun Laoghaire lands were rezoned in 2004 after the then minister for the environment, Martin Cullen, issued a statutory directive to the council to rezone more land in the area to provide extra housing. Cosgrave Developments is owned by brothers Joe, Peter and Michael Cosgrave, and has built several large-scale projects over the past three decades.
Sunday Business Post
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