Booterstown: from €460,000 A second phase of 40 high-spec apartments at a landmark south Dublin development are on the market, writes Orna Mulcahy, Property Editor
Forty apartments go on sale today in a new phase of Thornwood, a striking new development on the corner of Booterstown Avenue and Stillorgan Road in Co Dublin. One-bedroom units starting from €460,000 and two-bedroom apartments from €585,000 are on offer through Hooke & MacDonald where David Cantwell is handling sales.
The overall scheme will have 155 apartments, 65 of which were snapped up from plans earlier this year. The buyers of those, as well as newcomers, will finally be able to see what they are getting with a show apartment opening on-site today.
Furnished by Peter Johnson Interiors, the show unit is aimed very much at the owner-occupier market, with the emphasis on a clean, modern living space with some very clever touches, such as the boiler being housed outside the apartment, and accessed from the balcony, and the fully fitted hot press.
Developer PJ Hegarty and Sons is best known for building office blocks and, as this is their first foray into the high end of the Dublin apartment market, they want to get it right.
The design by O'Mahony Pike is very attractive, with an unusual sandstone facade and timber-lined balconies adding warmth to the extensive glazing. Inside, the communal hallways are clad in light oak, which is echoed in the internal doors to the apartments. However, given Thornwood's location close to UCD's Belfield campus, and with good transport links to the city centre via the QBC and the Dart, investors will also be lining up to buy here, perhaps for college-going children.
Work is well underway with the first residents expected to move in by next spring. The apartment blocks are being built around a very large courtyard garden with the upper units looking out over the roofs of this low rise neighbourhood towards the sea.
The higher you go, the better the view, and the penthouse apartments due to be released for sale next year will have a spectacular outlook.
Most of the apartments have generous decked balconies and many also have winter gardens - enclosed balconies with a wall of glass - that are big enough for serious balcony gardening.
The apartments being sold in this phase are on the upper floors, which explains the rise in prices since March, when one-bedroom units started at €390,000. Now the one-beds with 48-56sq m (520-610sq ft) are priced mainly from €460,000 rising to €500,000 while the two-bedroom apartments with 81-98sq m (870-1,060sq ft) start at €585,000 and rise to €765,000.
A row of four townhouses that makes up the fourth side of the courtyard are not being released for sale until sometime next year.
Large floor-to-ceiling Scandinavian windows are being used to maximise the amount of natural light entering each apartment.
Features of the specification include roomy wardrobes, Scandinavian kitchens and bathrooms that arrived on-site in pod form, with all their appliances and sanitary ware intact, and a generous electrical spec that includes lots of downlighters. Secure underground car-parking completes the package in what is likely to become a landmark scheme in south Dublin.
