Sandford Living plans to sell 56 of the planned 562 apartments to Dublin City Council, with the cheapest studio unit going for €365,300
Ardstone subsidiary Sandford Living Ltd is making a renewed bid to secure planning permission for a €356m apartment scheme at the corner of Sandford Road and Milltown Road in Dublin 6.
As part of its Part V social housing requirements, Sandford Living is proposing to sell 56 of the planned 562 apartments to the City Council for social housing.
It has put a price tag of €1.03m on the largest three-bedroom apartment.
A recent study by property-valuation firm Geowox found that Dublin 6 is the most expensive Eircode in the State, with the median price for a home rising to almost €800,000 in the third quarter of last year.
Sandford Living has put a total price of €35.54m on the 56 apartments.
The developers are seeking between €977,154 to €978,039 each for three other three-bed apartments.
The lowest price among the 56 proposed social housing units is €365,300 for a studio apartment.
Indicative prices for the two-bedroom units range from €690,917 to €820,217.
Artist’s rendering of the proposed development on the corner of Sandford Road and Milltown Road, Dublin 6
Today’s News in 90 Seconds, Tuesday, January 6
In all, the developers are planning to sell five three-bed units, 27 two-bed units, 14 studios and 10 one-bed apartments to the council. A final price will be reached after planning permission has been secured.
This is Sandford Living’s third application for the site. Its planning consultant, Thornton O’Connor (TOC), states that the two previous applications have been subject to High Court judicial reviews.
TOC’s planning report states that one 667-unit scheme from 2021 – mainly “build to rent” – has been remitted by the High Court to An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) for decision.
The High Court is due to make a ruling concerning a separate judicial review of ACP granting planning permission for 636 units in December 2023.
Advancing the case for the new scheme, TOC states that the development has been reduced from 636 units to 562, and that a 10-storey apartment block has been reduced to eight storeys.
This development is Sandford Living Ltd’s third application for the site
The TOC report states that the existing buildings and lands at the application site were formerly used by the Jesuit community.
The property was vacated by the Jesuit order in 2019 and sold to the applicants the same year.
According to the report, the site was purchased by the applicant with the intention of developing a high-quality development on a key accessible site in proximity to frequent public transport, employment locations, services and facilities in Dublin.
The report states that the proposed development is appropriate and has regard to recent national policy, which requires the densification of sites in core urban locations.
It also states that the scheme layout has been carefully considered, particularly in regard to the reuse of Tabor House and the chapel within the development, and the requirement for 25pc of the site to be public open space.
In addition, according to the report, building heights have been carefully modulated throughout the site, providing appropriate setbacks from neighbouring properties.
The firm says that the proposed density of 140 units per hectare on the serviced land is not challenging, especially as the site can accommodate extensive public and communal open space throughout.