Tax relief penthouses in Custom House Square from £340,000

Possessing increasingly elusive Section 23 designation, the 21 penthouse apartments being released at Custom House Square in Dublin's docklands are bound to stir investor interest.

Mainly three-bedroom units ranging in size from 1,000 sq ft to 1,030 sq ft and priced from £520,000 to £630,000, there are also three two-bedroom penthouses ranging from 740 to 800 sq ft and costing £340,000. Car-parking spaces are an extra £25,000. Section 23 allowances work out at between 70 and 92 per cent of the cost of each apartment, based on the developer's costs to the end of 1999. Sales are being handled by Douglas Newman Good.

Situated between the Custom House and the Point Depot, one of the penthouse apartments is in the first phase of 270 apartments built by Chesterbridge Developments in 1998. It is a three-bedroom, 890 sq ft unit with 92 per cent allowances, and costs £375,000.

The rest are part of the second phase, which has more than 260 units.

The penthouses in this release come in a variety of shapes and sizes and with a range of views, depending on which side of the development they are located.

They are part of 14 interconnected blocks arranged around a landscaped central courtyard.

The show penthouse, apartment 22 on the fifth floor of the Slaney House block, is not for sale. Spacious at 1,200 sq ft, it has a vast livingroom with recessed lighting, black aluminium windows stretching almost floor to ceiling and a door leading to a balcony that runs the entire width of the apartment overlooking Guild Street.

A galley kitchen off the living area also has access to the balcony and has fitted Shaker-style units with a chrome hob and black granite worktops.

There is a storage area and a hot-press off the hall and the main bathroom comes fully tiled.

The three bedrooms are well proportioned. One is presented as a study in the show apartment and has a fireplace but also comes with fitted wardrobes and a large en suite shower room, making it suitable as a bedroom.

A second bedroom has an en suite shower room and access to another balcony overlooking the central courtyard.

A fourth floor three-bedroom penthouse, apartment 13 in the Lagan House block, in common with the other penthouse apartments, has 10 ft high ceilings. There are two storage cubby holes, one in the livingroom and the other in the hall. Off the livingroom is a balcony with views of Mayor Street. The study/bedroom looks out on to the site where the National College of Ireland is currently under construction.

Two of the bedrooms face north on to the courtyard. On the same corridor, apartment 14 has a study, a very large en suite shower room and a large sittingroom with two doors to the balcony.

Apartment 48 in Aran House is 1,330 sq ft, including a substantial galley kitchen and an expansive sittingroom that overlooks the internal courtyard. The study has a large shower en suite with a bidet. The second bedroom has two windows overlooking the playground on Sherriff street.

There are plans for a third phase of Custom House Square but these will not qualify for Section 23 allowances.