Co Wicklow/from €260,000 & €485,000: A village-style scheme in Delgany has homes to suit most buyers, says Property Editor Orna Mulcahy.
With so many housing developments being launched from plans before a sod has been turned on site, it's good to see a large scale scheme go on sale at a stage when there are houses to visit and landscaping to appreciate.
This is the case with Eden Gate in Delgany, Co Wicklow, the latest development from Cosgrave, where houses and apartments go on sale today through new homes specialists Hooke & MacDonald.
A total of 210 houses and 174 apartments will be built on the site at Priory Road - which turns off from the Delgany Inn - while the finished scheme will also have clusters of shops and a state-of-the-art crèche for over 120 children.
Eden Gate is one of the few schemes in the greater Dublin area to offer a full choice of homes from one-bedroom apartments to large five-bedroom detached houses. The location is a good one, a short drive from the N11 and within sight of the new Southern Access Route which is built and due to open in the next next 12-18 months. Greystones and Delgany are in easy reach, but residents will still have country views.
Prices are pitched to attract a real mix of buyers from first timers to those trading up from other estates in the area and buyers looking to downsize from larger homes. The houses in particular will also appeal to families from the south Dublin suburbs seeking better value for money within an easy commute.
One-bedroom apartments are priced from €260,000; two-beds from €320,000 while large three-bed apartments start at €375,000. Three-bedroom houses are priced from €485,000; four-bedroom houses start at €595,000 while larger four/five-bedroom semi-detached houses cost from €685,000.
The star of the development is the large five-bedroom detached house. Nineteen of these are being built in the first phase of the development with a total of 38 planned for the entire scheme. Initially just 10 will be offered for sale from €995,000.
Cosgrave, a family firm, has a well earned reputation for producing quality homes in carefully landscaped settings that have an air of permanency about them from the word go. Willie Cosgrave, the youngest of the four-brother team, is working on site full time, while Joe Cosgrave has overseen the project since the land was first purchased in 1999.
The company's signature redbrick houses are arranged in curving rows, interspersed with low build apartment blocks that are set in their own grounds, and large communal green space. The houses will have fully landscaped gardens front and back, and residents will contribute to an on-site management service. The first residents are expected to move in this summer, with the entire development scheduled for completion in early 2007. Inside, the houses are spacious and well laid out with big eat-in kitchens in all the house types, wide hallways and landings, and good-sized downstairs toilets. The double-fronted five-bedroom houses have a particularly good layout; big kitchens and all the ground floor rooms interlink. There are some nice touches throughout the scheme, like the enclosed decks at the front of many of the houses, the porthole-style windows that crop up in livingrooms and bathrooms, the marble and sandstone fireplaces, the solid cherry doors and the French polished balustrades to the stairs.
Kitchens are exceptionally wellfitted and wardrobes are generous. There is the odd touch of sheer brilliance, too, like the mirror over the fireplace that clicks open to reveal the central heating boiler. With six show units open from today there is a lot for viewers to take in at Eden Gate. A further phase of houses and apartments will be launched in the autumn, though one suspects that prices will be higher by then.
