Homes in scheme at Navan Road from £150,000

Location is likely to prove a strong selling point when a development of townhouses and apartments go on the market today at Navan Road, Dublin 7. The site, opposite St Joseph's School for the Deaf, in Cabra, is about two miles from O'Connell Street.

Two-bedroom townhouses in Hampton Square will cost from £220,000, three bedroom terraced houses start at £240,000 while one-bedroom apartments will range from £150,000 and two-bedroom units from £180,000, according to selling agents Finnegan Menton.

Cosgrave Developments is well advanced on 38 two-bedroom and three-bedroom terraced houses to be known as The Crescent. There will be 26 houses released for sale at this stage and they will be ready for occupation in November and December. The agents are also taking bookings for 34 apartments which will be completed in January and February.

An early sell-out of the houses seems inevitable because they are among the best in the present wave of new schemes in the city.

Construction work on the apartments has only started but, going from the brochures and the plans - not to mention the competitive price -, Cosgrave looks like repeating its success of two weeks ago when it achieved £20 million in sales over a single weekend of new apartments on the South Circular Road.

Hampton Square will have a total of 206 apartments in all, built in a courtyard setting. The front of the site facing on to the Navan Road will shortly have four of the highest specification motor showrooms in the country which will be used by Mercedes Benz, Audi, Volkswagen and Mazda. A new public library is under construction on an adjoining site next to a neighbourhood shopping centre, where the tenants include Iceland and MacDonalds.

Designed by Conroy Crowe Kelly, the houses have an interesting and original style and layout which will appeal to young couples. Of the 38 houses in The Crescent, 27 of them are three-storey, three-bedroom units with between 1,150 and 1,345 sq ft - larger than usual for three-bedroom houses. Prices range from £240,000 to £255,000, depending on size.

Rear gardens also vary in size but not in style: they all have high wooden fencing, patio, wooden deck, garden shed and shrubs set in pebbles.

Inside, the three-bedroom houses have a practical layout. Off the hall, a breakfastroom/kitchen has a range of wall and floor units with MDF doors finished in cherrywood. There is plenty of space for table and a broad bay window fills the room with light. The livingroom/diningroom runs the full width of the house, opening out through sliding doors into the rear garden. The fireplace comes with a gas stove and the radiators are also heated by gas. On the first floor there are two double bedrooms and a bathroom with a bath and a separate shower. The top floor is given over to the main bedroom suite complete with en suite bathroom, wardrobes and lots of storage space.

The two-bedroom townhouses have 830 sq ft on two levels with the same configuration on the ground floor as in the bigger houses. Upstairs, there are two double bedrooms and two bathrooms, one of them en suite.

With new apartments difficult to find closer to the city centre, Hampton Square should be particularly popular with first-time buyers. One-bedroom units with 500 sq ft to 550 sq ft will cost from £150,000 to 160,000, while two-bedroom homes with 675 sq ft to 740 sq ft will be available from £180,000 to £205,000.

Finnegan Menton are also releasing two penthouses at this stage, one of them a two-bedroom unit of 950 sq ft priced at £280,000, the other a three-bedroom home with 1,100 sq ft at £330,000.

The apartments will be located in five-storey blocks around a central courtyard with a basement car-park. Purchase prices will include parking for those moving into either houses or apartments.

The apartments are being developed in a series of individual buildings, each with between 14 and 20 apartments. There will be lifts leading directly from the underground car-park to all floors.

Cosgraves are also introducing a high level of security by providing electronic entrances gates and a caretaker's office at the main entrance.