Built in the boom, priced for the slump

Large luxury apartments by the Tolka river in Drumcondra are being sold by receivers from €210,000

ANOTHER WEEK, another receiver sale. The Waterfront in Drumcondra, Dublin 3, designed in the heady days of the boom as an ambitious scheme with a lavish spec, is now being sold by receivers Grant Thornton at 55 per cent below the original asking prices.

Completed in 2008, the Waterfront missed the boat. The selling agent, Lansdowne Partnership, says “no money was spared” by developers Walsh Maguire who used the “the best of everything” in the 19 units.

Fast forward more than two years and the developer has gone into receivership and these big, luxury apartments are being sold at prices, that while not exactly slump, are competitive. Six of the 19 apartments were sold in 2008 but the rest have been on ice until today’s launch.

The apartments are priced between €210,000 and €230,000 for the 64sq m (685sq ft) one-beds; €250,000-€270,000 for the 76-91sq m (814-879sq ft) two-bed apartments and €320,000 for the 101-120sq m (1,088-1,296sq ft) three-beds. There is one three-bed townhouse priced at €350,000.

The thinking when these were built seemed to be, why have one roof garden when you can have three? Why have a shower when you can have a “jumbo” power shower? Why have a bog standard bath when you can have one with “water-jet technology”?

Apart from the high quality fit-out and design, there’s the location: at Drumcondra Bridge on Lower Drumcondra Road, overlooking the Tolka (The Waterfront has its own boardwalk) and across the road from the famous Fagan’s pub.

When the development was launched, in May 2008, the prices started at €460,000 for one-beds and €535,000 for two-beds.

The new prices, while not rock bottom are on a par with recent receivership sales in the south docklands and in Mount Merrion.

Two adjoining apartment buildings, one of which has only five apartments, make up the Waterfront. Both lobbies have a level of detail that borders on the obsessive, with marbling around the lifts and wool carpets of such a high quality you bounce rather than walk.

All of the apartments have high ceilings, generous, cream-tiled bathrooms with Jacuzzi baths, and power showers.

The balconies are a good size although it’s disconcerting to look down and see the pavement below through the decked floor. A few of the units have extra terrace and balcony space.

Cream, high-gloss kitchens with quartz countertops are standard, including all appliances and gas central heating with zoned thermostatic controls. All main bedrooms have a shower en suite.

There is one large communal roof garden, with smaller ones on top of each building. The apartments on the top floor have extra roof height and skylights and livingrooms throughout the development are generous. The one disappointment is the limited wardrobe space in some of the bedrooms. The three-bed townhouse is spacious with great ceiling heights, a good-sized terrace and a second smaller terrace.

The two-bed penthouse apartment is the folly of the development. Decked out like a mini-country mansion, the style is completely at odds with the rest of the scheme. Originally intended as a bolt-hole for one of directors of the development company, it has brightly coloured damask wallpapers and a duck egg blue country-style kitchen with a Rangemaster cooker.

The bathroom is the pièce de résistance, with a standalone bath monogrammed with the letter “M” and an olde worlde-style toilet with a pull chain. The apartment strikes a slightly odd note with it’s delusions of grandeur but it’s a good size with two outdoor areas.

Each apartment comes with one underground parking space. The development has been pre-snagged and prepared for sale but once a purchaser signs on the dotted line, they can’t go back to the agent or receiver with a snagging issue. “The receiver can’t give warranties on stuff,” says Fergal Hopkins of Lansdowne Partnership “so the day you sign you take the apartment as it is, you can’t come back and say the washing machine is not working.”

The management fees will be around €1,500-€2,000 per unit and the development will be managed by the Lansdowne Partnership. There’s a commercial unit on the ground floor level that’s still empty and there’s talk of splitting it into three smaller units.