Development Land: The Howth Estate Company is selling a 15-acre site on Thornamby Road, Dublin 13 by public tender on September 28th which agent Ganly Walters expects to fetch over €12 million.
The company, controlled by the St Lawrence family, owns the Deerpark Hotel and golf complex and Howth Castle, as well as a substantial landholding in the area. Ganly Walters says the land, which is not part of the main estate, is surplus to the estate's requirements and is currently used for grazing.
The site has views over the south of Howth Head and is zoned RS in the Dublin City Development plan 2005-2011 "to provide for residential development and the protection and improvement of residential amenity".
Mark Smyth of Ganly Walters says that the buyer could build - according to the current zoning (subject to planning permission) - or hold on to the land in the hope that a higher density is assigned in the next development plan in five years time.
In such an exclusive location, a luxury housing development is the likely option for any buyer but, since the area was given a Special Amenity Area Order (SAAO) by Fingal County Council in 1999, local conservation and residents groups have been active in their opposition to various developments in the Howth area.
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