“Big demand” for first tranche of 400-home development
A Dublin-based auctioneering firm has confirmed that 30 out of the first tranche of 35 homes released as part of a major residential development planned for Athlone have now been sold.
Knight Frank has reported a “big demand” for the homes starting from €355,000 for a three-bed semi at Gracefields, developed by Glenveagh Homes, to the rear of the existing Drumaconn estate, just off the Ballymahon Road.
“A lot of the buyers are from Athlone or others are looking to move back,” Shannon Longmore from Knight Frank said on Monday in relation to the Cornamaddy project launched at the end of May.
The first lot of homes for sale consist of three, four and five bed homes ranging in size from 112 square metres for the three bed, to 133-144 square metres for the four bed semi (from €395,000) and the five-bedroom detached homes spanning between 180 and 223 square metres.
The A1 rated houses are currently “under construction” and a small number are expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year, with the remainder finished in the fourth quarter of this year, she added.
While no exact date has been announced for the next launch of homes for sale, it's expected there will be an announcement in the autumn with a completion date for that tranche in 2024.
It's envisaged that Gracefields will encompass over 400 homes in total, according to the auctioneer, developed over several years.
Each home will have a contemporary shaker style kitchen by Gallagher kitchens, contemporary designed bathrooms and ensuites and full height wardrobes in the master bedroom. All houses will also have provision for future car charging point.
In October of last year, Marina Quarter Ltd, with an address in Maynooth Co Kildare, got the green light for 75 new homes and a link road on a 3.72-hectare site located to the north-west of the Drumaconn housing development in Cornamaddy. It is viewed as the first phase of a larger housing development in the area, which the applicant previously said would form part of “a new residential neighbourhood in Athlone, of circa 400 units”.
The developer said at that time that the overall development on the Cornamaddy lands would be subject to separate planning applications.
In other housing news, Minister Darragh O’Brien will visit Athlone and Moate this Friday to launch a plethora of housing projects, some completed, and others about to begin.
He will turn the sod on three schemes, namely Greally Park, Athlone, a social housing scheme of 24 units in Arcadia, a sod turning at Dún an Rí, Coosan and another affordable housing project in Moate called Gort an Locha.
Minister O’Brien will also preside at official openings of housing projects in Baylough, Bower Hill, Athlone and Mount Carmel Drive in Moate.