House-owners combine to secure planning for student accommodation

An interesting aspect of the sale of a city centre development site that comes to the market with full planning permission for student residences is that a number of separate owners have combined their houses to achieve greater development potential.

Numbers 116 to 120 Upper Drumcondra Road which together sit on a site of 0.19 Ha (0.48 Acre) opposite the Skylon Hotel in north Dublin, have been granted full planning permission for a 114-bed student accommodation development and a café. Three separate property owners assembled the site.

According to Caitriona Kirrane, marketing manager with sales agents Colliers, the prospect of individual house or home-owners combining neighbouring holdings into a higher-density development site is not uncommon, but likely to become a bigger feature of opportunities in cities.

The new development site is located on the eastern side of Upper Drumcondra Road Upper, opposite the Skylon Hotel and a Lidl supermarket.

Medicine supplies into NI at risk due to post-Brexit rules, says trade group

---

Estate agent finds it pays whether you advertise or not in current housing market

---

Commemorative service ‘honest attempt to respect differences’, says Archbishop

---

Compensation cap for Mica redress would be ‘crude’ says Joe McHugh

---

The site is also midway between DCU All Hallows campus and DCU St Patrick’s campus, with at least six other cmpuses, colleges and universities all within a 3.5km radius.

Drumcondra Village, with its bars, restaurants and shops, benefits from a quality bus corridor into the city centre, and is well served by both local and regional services.

Drumcondra train station, and the proposed Griffith Park stop as part of the MetroLink indicative route, are about 1km from the site.

The student accommodation development comprises 114 bedspaces ranging in size between 12.5 to2 5.5sq m (135-274sq ft) all within a four-storey over part basement structure arranged in three blocks set around a courtyard.

Richard Bielenberg of Colliers is handling the sale with a guide price of €3.85 million. He said “this position between DCU’s two campuses makes the site perfect for student accommodation, and the proximity to the city centre should ensure good additional income during the summer months”.