Race is on to The Coast at Baldoyle

The first homes in a development near the sea on the site of the former Baldoyle racecourse are being launched over 30 years after it closed. Property Editor Orna Mulcahy reports

Apartments and houses in the long-awaited Coast scheming Baldoyle, north CO Dublin, go on sale today with prices starting at €330,000 for one-bedroom apartments, rising to €595,000 for four-bedroom tenolyses.

Built on the site of the former Baldoyle Racecourse, it's one of the few new developments along the coast from Malahide to Killiney, and the only one being pitched at first-time buyers.

Sherry Fitzgerald New Homes is handling sales at the 280-acre development which will eventually have its own town centre and Dart station, due to open in 2008. Many of the homes will overlook a 110-acre public park while apartments on the upper floors of the apartment blocks will have far reaching views towards Ireland's Eye and Howth Head.

It's predominantly a low-rise scheme of two and three-storey units with corner apartment blocks rising to a height of six storeys.

The Coast is being built by Séamus Ross of Menially, the biggest housebuilder in the country, and while the target market is young buyers, it's also going to attract locals trading both up and down, and parents helping their children to get on the property ladder.

Young families will be attracted by the promise of all that open space, and also by the communal gardens behind each block of homes. Investors will be attracted by the promise of good capital appreciation once the entire scheme has been fully developed.

Called Red Arches, this phase of the development has around 160 units available now, with a further phase expected later in the year. Most are apartments and depletes though there are a small number of semi-detached houses. Red Arches is on the sea side of the site, accessed via a dramatic entrance and driveway off Coast Road, a short drive from Sutton village. Six show units will be open to viewers

The apartments and depletes are arranged in a series of low to medium height blocks and terraces that allow each unit a surprising amount of outdoor space in the form of patios, gardens and large decked balconies.

Each block is built around a large landscaped garden and most of the units are dual aspect, with the larger homes having both patios and balconies. The units are surprisingly large with good living space, sizeable kitchens and plenty of storage in the form of walk-in cupboards and wardrobes in each bedroom. Kitchen appliances are to be included and there's a a parking space for each unit.

Two -bedroom apartments ranging in size from 66sq m (715sq ft) to 109sq m (1,170sq ft) start at €385,000. A small number of two-bedroom townhouses will be snapped up early: they have a generous 93sq m (1,000sq ft) and cost from €459,000.

Three duplexes ranging from 112sq m (1,210sq ft) are priced from €470,000 while three-bedroom townhouses with around 84sq m (900sq ft) are available from €450,000. Four-bedroom townhouses with 151sq m (1,620sq ft) arranged on three floors cost from €595,000. It's a scheme that has been many years in the making. Baldoyle Racecourse closed over 30 years ago in 1972 and was bought by property developer John Byrne who made several unsuccessful attempts to have it rezoned for housing. In 1991 Pennine Holdings, a company that included the lobbyist Frank Dunlop, acquired an option on the land but it also failed to have it rezoned. Sean Mulryan bought the land for around €30 million in the mid- 1990s, adding it to an adjoining landbank that brought the total site to 450 acres. A broadly based campaign to have more land zoned for housing, combined with the extension of the Dart to Malahide, made the land more accessible and in due course it was rezoned. In 2004, Seamus Ross acquired a 50 per cent stake in the site for around €95 million.

For a virtual tour of this property click on www.nicemove.ie