€70m paid for 25 acres in Sandyford Housing

Housing Land: Warren Private and Mark and Noel Elliott have paid €70m for a 25-acre housing site at Aiken Village in Sandyford, D18. Jack Fagan reports

Warren Private, which handles private investments in property, has joined forces with developers Mark and Noel Elliott to buy a large housing site at Sandyford, Dublin 18, for over €70 million.

Each side will have a 50 per cent stake in the 25 acres at Aiken Village, which was acquired in an off-market deal from developer Canon Kirk.

The disposal, which was handled by CB Richard Ellis, comes near the end of the busiest ever six months in land sales in the greater Dublin area. The overall turnover in this period exceeded €1 billion.

A large percentage of the sites have been bought by business syndicates rather than traditional housebuilders as private investors moved to cash in on the high profit margins still available in the housing market.

Warren's decision to take a half share in the Sandyford land underlines the continuing interest of private investors in new housing despite warnings that prices are stabilising.

The 25 acres sold has planning for about 460 residential units. However, the new owners are expected to seek revised planning for a higher density.

Canon Kirk has already built up to half the 950 homes for which planning permission has been granted at Aiken Village. The company is planning to develop another 150 apartments, which have been selling strongly at prices from €475,000 for two-bedroom units.

Two-bedroom penthouses have been making between €670,000 and €820,000.

Canon Kirk is also developing houses at Waterside near Malahide and at Cambridge in the UK.

The Elliott company is seen as one of the most progressive in the country and apart from its role as a developer, it also has a substantial construction business.

P Elliott and Company recently paid over €29 million for the head office and printing works of The Irish Times in Dublin city centre.

The company is also planning a high rise residential and commercial development for the former windmill site in Dublin's Digital Hub.

A price of €38 million was paid for the 3.2-acre site which is expected to accommodate 269 apartments, 6,400sq m (68,889sq ft) of digital media office space, over 7,000sq m (75,347sq ft) of general office space, 2,800sq m (30,129sq ft) of retail and service floor space, a crèche, gym and cultural space.

The buildings will be mostly six to eight storeys but with two high rise elements. A block fronting Thomas Street beside the IAWS site will be 16 storeys high and another facing Bonham Street will have a 15-storey element.