Clongriffin - Parkedge

skD13

This block (block 17) was originally supposed to be an office development. See the architect's report submitted with this planning application. This new application is for 139 apartments with 5 retail units on the ground floor. While the development looks high quality with large dual aspect apartments, I would have a concern that Clongriffin's potential is not being maximized from a commercial perspective. Clongriffin town center itself has no employment to speak of and continuing to develop residential units with a smattering of retail is unlikely to see the existing retail units occupied, most notably the empty shopping centre.

Wouldn't this be an ideal location for an office building to attract a significant anchor tenant? Suburban locations through the city can attract high class office tenants, why not Clongriffin? If the developer continues to build residential and retail without a significant commercial element to the town, then I think the area will struggle to develop positively.

I should disclose that I not longer live in Clongriffin but did so for 6 years from the early days right through the depths of the recession. I was there when early residents were promised a Superquinn (plans for the interior even exist up on the DCC planning servers somewhere!) and then it was mothballed indefinitely, and I was there when the arse fell out of the economy and construction came to a halt. I looked out on a wasteland for 6 years - thankfully Fr. Collins park was completed and it was a lifeline.

It's great to see development recommence and the new house facing the park look great. I wish all you new buyers the very best in your new homes but I am concerned about the direction the area is taking with this dearth of employment opportunities. Of course people can commute on the DART and via the excellent bus service, but to sustain day-time retail activity some jobs must be created in Clongriffin itself. For this reason I would have concerns over this new planning application which seeks to omit an office block in favour of more residential. I accept we have a housing crisis and of course we need to build up in certain locations but I feel the commercial (not retail, I stress commercial)/residential mix in Clongriffin at this present time is not conducive to sustainable town development.

I am probably going to put in an observation to this effect myself. I urge others to do the same if they agree with my concerns.

Gumbo

That's all well and good, but attracting an Anchor Tennant is the hard part!
most employment will still be in the City Centre IMO.

skD13

kceire wrote: »

That's all well and good, but attracting an Anchor Tennant is the hard part!
most employment will still be in the City Centre IMO.

Hi kceire,

I take your point but it does seem that developers in other suburban locations like Blanchardstown, Airside, Leopardtown, Cherrywood, ParkWest, CityWest etc. etc. can attract top class employers. Even Northern Cross up the road managed to secure Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Experian (I don't know what numbers are up here though). Many of these places are arguably not as well located as Clongriffin. The master plan for Clongriffin is significant with lots of medium and high density development ear-marked for the remaining undeveloped plots. I can't see how the new town master-plan can sustain itself without core employers. I honestly don't know how hard or otherwise it is to attract office tenants, but other developers seem to be able to do it in out of town locations.

Surely Gannon Homes and Dublin City Council, with all of their experience and wider contacts can entice employers into the area with cheaper rents than the city centre, a bus hub and a spanking new DART station? If some form of office development doesn't go in there what will? They already tried a kind of Dundrum Centre lite (I kid you not, you should have seen the brochures for the development back in 2005) and we all know how that worked out - the shopping centre is still lying empty 10 years later.

That's basically my concern here as an originally planned office block is being omitted in favour of residential with 5 retail units (which there are enough of already, mostly vacant). If I raise this as an observation then maybe Gannon Homes will be asked to detail just how difficult it is to attract tenants, or I may just be ignored :ermm:.

It's just something that concerns me. I lived there for 6 years and saw it decline as construction stopped and the pyrite scandal took off. I now see it rise again (albeit from outside Dublin) as the pyrite issue has been remediated and construction recommences. I still have a soft spot for the place and I still own a property there so I just want to see it develop positively. Aside from my own interests, I feel strongly about Clongriffin succeeding as a model for how new towns should be planned and developed.

Volthar

Does anyone know where to buy shelves for wardrobes? I need 3 86x40cm. Ikea does not sell this size. No idea where else to go.

Volthar

OK, the manufacturer Crowley's have them in stock €10 a piece but they are too far away. I found that Homebase in Ballymun sell furniture boards and cut them to size. Hope this will help someone.

Blinkeyblue

Thank you! Finally someone Speaking sense! @skD13

gitsy606

Another couple of phases announced for Belltree , prices gone up considerably also.

Plans look good with a green area to be included .

New brochure is on Belltree website

irishbigfoot

gitsy606 wrote: »

Another couple of phases announced for Belltree , prices gone up considerably also.

Plans look good with a green area to be included .

New brochure is on Belltree website

Went up today to show a family member the show house and agent told us that 11 of the new phase had deposits put down yesterday so people are definitely prepared even with the higher prices.

CT2

What are the new prices? I can only find the "From €295 " on daft.

ohlordy

295k gets a 3 bed mid terrace with north facing garden
335k gets a 3 bed end terrace with south facing garden

they are priced at 305k, 315k, 320k for various versions of mid/end terrace and north/east/south facing gardens

Konata

I can't find my original info from the first phase of Belltree but when do you need mortgage approval for these - when you put down the deposit or when you actually pay for the house?

CT2

You should have AIP before putting a deposit down. You will need to sign contracts after that, it could take up to a month to sort this part out.

You then approach the bank that gave you AIP and ask to obtain a Loan Offer before signing the formal contracts. My solicitor advised me to have this before signing unconditional contracts as if something goes wrong I could lose my deposit.

Most loan offers last for 6 months so its a bit complex if you are outside that date range. you may need to reapply all over again.

ongarboy

Agreed, you don't even have to have your actual intended property listed for the AIP. Just pick a similar priced available property within your estimated price range. The bank won't do a valuation on the property you actually want until after you've put down a deposit. It may mean however the property you have your eye on right now may have sold by the time your AIP is issued.

I picked a property in an area I had no intention of living in just so that I had AIP in place for when I was ready to seriously start house hunting. I could then refine my search to properties that I could afford based on the actual value of the approved loan plus whatever savings I could allocate. I'd be surprised that Estate Agents still entertain bidders seriously until they have AIP in place anyway as I used to hear of sale agreeds falling through due to problems with mortgages that were not approved.

Konata

Was looking at the property price register there and see that the houses in Belltree are all listed as having sold for very different prices - and most are under the minimum price that was advertised. I'm not very familiar with the property price register so I'm probably missing something obvious, but why are they all different prices? Link here.

Gumbo

Konata wrote: »

Was looking at the property price register there and see that the houses in Belltree are all listed as having sold for very different prices - and most are under the minimum price that was advertised. I'm not very familiar with the property price register so I'm probably missing something obvious, but why are they all different prices? Link here.

Brand new dwellings get listed on the PPR without VAT I think. Someone else might confirm.

CT2

New builds don't included VAT at 13.5% on the property register for some reason.

freakyfraggle

nice bit of green wrote: »

For those who have recently moved into Belltree, has anyone managed and succeeded to get a super kingsize bed (6ft wife by 6.5ft long) up to the 2nd floor master bedroom? The plans look like they can accommodate the move by backing into storage room and bathroom on the landings but would appreciate if anyone can tell me how they got on plus anything else we should be wary of? I've bought a house type E1/E2 in the 2nd phase.

Hi there,
We expected our E1 house to be identical to the showhouse but in fact the dimensions seem to be different. The first floor ceiling appears to be higher, which combined with the longer stairs means that the 2nd floor master bedroom is lower in height. So big furniture tends to dominate the room. If you havent already bought the bed, I would recommend waiting until you get in to your actual house and can measure up. Good luck!

freakyfraggle

Volthar wrote: »

Does anyone know where to buy shelves for wardrobes? I need 3 86x40cm. Ikea does not sell this size. No idea where else to go.

B&Q sell shelving boards and will cut them to size at no extra cost. Probably cheaper to go to the manufacturer though, I never thought to ask them!

Volthar

AFAIK the showhouse for this type was built in a timber frame tech but actual houses in this stage are masonery. This is probably why measurements are off.

Gumbo

Volthar wrote: »

AFAIK the showhouse for this type was built in a timber frame tech but actual houses in this stage are masonery. This is probably why measurements are off.

100% correct.
The first 4 houses are timber frame and the remainder are block built. Shouldn't make a difference too much to sizes though.

gitsy606

freakyfraggle wrote: »

Hi Blinkeyblue,

Yes, the site manager said the solution would probably take the form of 'noise attentuation', so maybe they have something like that in mind...

Hi freakfraggle / blinkeyblue

Have you had this issue sorted?

Smartbean30

Hi All - could you let me know if anybody that moved to Belltree has Virgin Media, just had a webchat and they said they don't supply to Belltree as yet but thought I seen on a thread that somebody had Virgin Media??

Volthar

Smartbean30 wrote:

Hi All - could you let me know if anybody that moved to Belltree has Virgin Media, just had a webchat and they said they don't supply to Belltree as yet but thought I seen on a thread that somebody had Virgin Media??

We have it in Parkedge and I think you will be better off calling them directly. I had similar issue last year with conflicting info between chat and phone. Do you have their sockets in the house? I did from the start.

Last note: Sales are usually done by the Cork callcenter while the rest of the most brutal and useless "support" is outsourced.

freakyfraggle

gitsy606 wrote: »

Hi freakfraggle / blinkeyblue

Have you had this issue sorted?

No news yet, will post here as soon as I hear anything. lots of rainy loud nights on the way!

Blinkeyblue

Smartbean30 wrote: »

Hi All - could you let me know if anybody that moved to Belltree has Virgin Media, just had a webchat and they said they don't supply to Belltree as yet but thought I seen on a thread that somebody had Virgin Media??

Yes, Virgin Media boxes are in Belltree. Maybe try ring back again tomorrow, saying your house is prewired with Virgin and all your neighbours have it up and running too. Sometimes it takes a few attempts to talk to someone from support that knows

Blinkeyblue

freakyfraggle wrote: »

No news yet, will post here as soon as I hear anything. lots of rainy loud nights on the way!

Ditto. Starting to have my doubts if Gannon are actually looking into it at all....

Volthar

Blinkeyblue wrote:

Ditto. Starting to have my doubts if Gannon are actually looking into it at all....

You have to call them every week asking for updates also go to the actual Gannon office on the Main Street (the black pavilion). I had my issues with the house and got sorted nearly year later! 3 separate guys from Rathowen promised me to address it. One after another left the company. Seems they just did not care. The thing got sorted once I started bothering Gannon directly.

ohlordy

sarah.ck wrote: »

Hey all, We just bought a house in Belltree, so excited, its due to complete in November 2016. The price was increased by €2,000 though and I'm just curious if anyone knows why or what the increase is for, did this happen to anyone else? It could just be for building materials or something?

At what point was price increase communicated to you?
Before booking deposit?
Between booking deposit and signing of contract?
After signing of contract?

What effect will todays budget announcement have on sales prices on houses on sale today for completion next summer? Instant 20k increase?

sarah.ck

ohlordy wrote: »

At what point was price increase communicated to you?
Before booking deposit?
Between booking deposit and signing of contract?
After signing of contract?

What effect will todays budget announcement have on sales prices on houses on sale today for completion next summer? Instant 20k increase?

It was just after the booking deposit was paid but well before the contract deposit was paid and contracts were signed. I think it's in the contract that they can increase the price if they want to at any time due to increasing prices in building materials etc but there's also a clause in ours that says that we have to benefit from any decrease in VAT etc so I think it would be the same for tax rebate!

You can see if your solicitor can put a clause about it into the contract if you haven't signed them . I don't have a copy of the signed contract yet so can't remember exactly what it said.Did they increase the price on you as well?

ohlordy

I'm only at early stage of process, put down initial deposit in release 3 weeks ago. No contract with solicitor yet.
It'll be interesting to find out if there is an increase after today, must mention that clause to solicitor.
Thanks