Cork developments

thomil · 14-12-2023 10:16am

It really is. And they should be able to get underway pretty quickly once the contracts are signed. They did some ground testing on the site earlier this year, and most of the site clearance is already done. Plus, with several student accommodation projects winding down, there should be the necessary capacity on the side of the construction companies to get this going.

Apogee · 14-12-2023 12:39pm

Bottleworks on Carrigrohane road must be nearing the finish line

https://twitter.com/CorkCraneCount/status/1735251413939155036

snotboogie · 14-12-2023 12:53pm

Looks like Glenveagh are finally proceeding with their massive apartment project on the docklands:

https://x.com/EoinBearla/status/1735259481515159976?s=20

Meursault · 14-12-2023 3:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121494181#Comment_121494181

Hi snotboogie, is this the area between Penrose dock office block and the Horgan's quay office block?

Also, I note that they seem to be clearing out the area that is fenced off behind the Odlums building. Any idea if there is something happening there?

snotboogie · 14-12-2023 3:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121495121#Comment_121495121

The area between Penrose Dock and Horgans Quay is where the 300 apartments mentioned in the last article are going. The link above is where Live at the Marquee had been held for the last 10+ years next to Marina Park, there are 1,000 apartments going there but will be built in phases. The site behind the Odlums building is another site again, OCP have said they will start 190 apartments there in Q2 next year. They also have plans for retail, a hospital and office but there are no details when they will start.

TheSunIsShining · 14-12-2023 3:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121494181#Comment_121494181

Why did no-one think of designing the plaza just on the City side of PuC better such that it could take events like this? Appreciate it is a flood area but small big of thought and it could have been built as a plaza to take events like the Marquee, Christmas market, start some kind of other summer festival etc. Instead the entirety of the plaza consists of a red half roofed tribute to the old Show Ground of which 75% people probably have no idea or clue what it is supposed to be in honour of....

Meursault · 14-12-2023 4:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121495199#Comment_121495199

Thanks again. My office is directly above this space where the apartment block is going on Horgan's quay. I look forward to seeing it commence and take shape.

DylanQuestion · 14-12-2023 5:33pm

The work behind Odlums is Irish Water I believe. As mentioned, the developers claim to be starting construction next year

thomil · 14-12-2023 6:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121495434#Comment_121495434

Penrose Dock or Horgan's Quay offices? Penrose Dock here myself ;)

Meursault · 15-12-2023 10:36am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121495794#Comment_121495794

Penrose Dock also! I'm looking forward to being distracted by the construction work!

Meursault · 15-12-2023 10:38am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121495608#Comment_121495608

Ah ok. What are Irish Water doing with the Odlums building?

There was a digger and some workers in there over the last week or so, and they looked to be clearing out the space directly behind the actual building, but still within the grounds of Odlums

the beer revolu · 15-12-2023 11:05am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121497848#Comment_121497848

Why don't they look out the windows in the mornings in Penrose Dock?

So they have something to do in the afternoons! 😜

iColdFusion · 15-12-2023 12:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121492838#Comment_121492838

The truth is the only apt projects likely to be going ahead in Cork city will those being subsidised or being bought for social housing by the government, apts are incredibly expensive to build these days (no thanks to Cork's fire officers) and very few private Cork buyers can afford to buy a €400k one bed apt or pay the market rent on one.

snotboogie · 15-12-2023 12:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121498311#Comment_121498311

The good news is that there seems to be significant money being made available to bridge the funding gap so we should see an uptick on apartment construction over the next few years. Cork has the major advantage of having thousands upon thousands of apartments with planning secured.

marno21 · 15-12-2023 3:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121498328#Comment_121498328

Between Project Tosaigh and the Croi Conaithe scheme it looks like we'll really see the rubber hitting the road on a few of these devs next year. And not before time!

iColdFusion · 15-12-2023 5:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121499424#Comment_121499424

Hopefully, as god knows we need all the housing we can get but with interest rates being high these sorts of developments can be a liability, even the LDA are saying they cant afford to borrow from the markets anymore and at the end of the day how many of units built will actually be available to private buyers?

Is the reality that Project Tosaigh and the Croi Conaithe are the government subsidising developments that will then be rented back to an AHB longterm or bought wholesale for social housing, its alot of hardworking taxpayers money to house low achievers in prime locations and generate profits for builders.

Tuath have bought up the full first phase of the development Cairn are doing outside douglas, a load of houses/apts/duplexes in a prime location. The houses themselves would have to have been in the 450k range if they were on the open market and there 41 of those, so thats 18million for starters...

snotboogie · 15-12-2023 6:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121499891#Comment_121499891

As far as I know houses don’t fall under croi conaithe or project tosaigh, so what’s happening at Baly is a separate discussion. The only way apartments were being built and could be be build prior to the two schemes mentioned was for social housing, now there is cost rental and apartments for sale being built, opening up apartments to a much broader demographic than the housing list. I don’t see how this is worse than the situation for the last 5 years?

Timing belt · 16-12-2023 1:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121498328#Comment_121498328

does that translate to 1000’s and 1000’s of apartments where a very small minority are owned by private home owners as their PPR. So in effect what is being built is no different to a mix of institutional rental and the large council estate of the past that we see around the country….i.e. is it the ballymun all over again.

Reason for asking is that besides the HTB (which applies to all properties and not just apartments). I don’t see any other funding that bridges the gap for private buyers. Don’t get me wrong it’s good that they are going ahead but without a good mix of ownership we as are creating the same problems of the past.

snotboogie · 16-12-2023 1:39am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121501874#Comment_121501874

As far as I’m aware there are four types of funding:

The LDA build and rent themselves at below market rate. St Kevins is the only such site under construction but they have another 5 or 6 sites earmarked in Cork for construction over the next 10 years.
The LDA bridge funding for buy to sell apartments developed and sold by private developers but with a cap on the sale price. As far as I understand the Glenveagh site in Blackrock would fall under this remit.
A private developer builds and then sells the site to the LDA and the LDA then operate as a cost rental. The Horgans Quay development would be an example of this.
Construction for social housing. Either developed directly by Cork City council or via a developer working with a 3rd party government funded non profit like respond.

the beer revolu · 16-12-2023 10:27am

Is the reality that Project Tosaigh and the Croi Conaithe are the government subsidising developments that will then be rented back to an AHB longterm or bought wholesale for social housing, its alot of hardworking taxpayers money to house low achievers in prime locations and generate profits for builders.

Cry harder.

iColdFusion · 16-12-2023 5:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121501904#Comment_121501904

While do in general support the LDA because they are actually trying to do cost rental and affordable housing for working people they are vastly under delivering, its over 5 years since they were setup and they haven't handed over a single unit as part of their original remit to build on government site even with over a billion euros in their bank account, 5 years!

I'm not sure what will happen to them if SF get into power, EoB already has a website called LDAWatch and doesn't seem to be delighted with their progress either but ironically the LDA's slow delivery will suit SF just lovely, they are likely to be in power when the majority of the units actually get delivered!

Its cost rental that will break the LDA id say, so for instance Horgans Quay is over 300 apts at say 350k each, thats 105 million the LDA will effectively have tied up in that block for a very long time, the rent being deliberately kept low so wont be making much of a dent in the principal just paying the interest, the maths are even worse for the stuff they are doing around Dublin.

snotboogie · 16-12-2023 10:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121503379#Comment_121503379

The remit of the LDA is to build accommodation, not to make money. Housing is being treated as infrastructure, Horgans Quay would no more break the LDA than the M20 would break the NRA. I doubt this type of investment will continue in the medium to long term and is just being used as a stopgap until the LDA scale up to be able to build themselves.

iColdFusion · 18-12-2023 12:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121504401#Comment_121504401

Well their remit is to deliver as many houses as possible while delivering value for the taxpayer, if they start hemorrhaging money into ill judged developments they aint gonna get any more money, they have already have had to get a €500million bail out loan this year to keep them going and have repeatedly reduced down the number of homes they claim they will build while extending the timelines.

Imagine if they take on Horgans quay but set the income limits too low relative to the reduced market rent so its sits at 25% occupancy? That venture will be massively in the red on the LDAs books and then if they start running into the councils problems of people who stop paying their rent, are the LDA prepared to do evictions? Then they either have to go back to the government for another bailout or cancel some other project...

"scale up to build themselves", Ahh here, what have they been doing for 5 years with a billion euros if they cant be building themselves by now? You''ll have to admit their record to date is poor, honestly the government should have just bought 51% of Cairn homes and Glenveagh 5 years ago, given them access to the government land bank with cheap financing and we would have many, many more houses delivered by now instead of another slow paced quango.

And I can justify "slow paced" by their recent announcement of public consultation for a large project in St Josephs hospital Limerick, great you'd think, until you read they hope to go for phase 1 planning in early 2025...

DylanQuestion · 19-12-2023 4:20pm

Maryborough Ridge SHD starting January 2nd with 19 houses, out of 447 total units (313 houses, 134 apartments)

https://nbco.localgov.ie/node/276834

Apogee · 20-12-2023 5:12pm

UCC development at Distillery Fields given go ahead - board overruled planning inspector over building height

https://www.irishexaminer.com/property/developmentconstruction/arid-41293432.html

thomil · 28-12-2023 11:39am

Completely unexpected article on TFI Bikes in the paper this morning:

Call to expand Cork bike scheme to outlying areas (echolive.ie)

Key points:

Labour council candidate calling for expansion towards Blackrock, Douglas & Mahon
TFI Bikes Cork has seen "significant increase" in usage in 2023
NTA currently evaluating network prior to re-tendering in 2024
Simplification of docking station design part of evaluation - Aim is for simpler design & lower maintenance

Even with the usual party-political waffling on the part of Labour in mind, this is probably the most positive piece on TFI Bikes I've read in a long time. An expansion towards Blackrock really does make sense, as the geography and infrastructure in that direction make expansion much easier than for example on the northside. The tidbit about TFI Bikes in Cork having seen a significant increase of usage in Cork also mirrors my own experience throughout the year. The number of TFI Bikes I see on the road on any given day is significantly higher, even in inclement conditions. I wrote about that very subject on my blog back in October, if anyone wants to have a read: The Cycle Continues - Ongoing thoughts on TFI Bikes in Cork (thomil-english.blogspot.com)

Can't say much about the ongoing evaluation, since I'm not part of the NTA, but the fact that they're looking at simplified station designs & a potentially expanded network would seem to indicate that they want to keep the system running beyond 2024, which is very good news.

PreCocious · 28-12-2023 12:35pm

The joys of being a candidate. Call for this, call for that, no need to decide which item is the most important but just call for them all.

His colleague Cllr Maher is blue in the face from calling for enforcement of parking measures on MacCurtain Street.

In Cork the only called-for measures that succeed are calls for more discussion (aka postponement) on cycle lanes, on decent parks, on Bus Connects. There's a terrible attitude of not wanting to do anything that might make town a bit better if it affects drivers or provides a bit of space that isn't commercialised. God forbid that people could sit somewhere without having to but something

Apogee · 09-01-2024 8:59pm

"“The Land Development Agency (LDA) have announced the apartments on Horgan’s Quay and Glenveagh, down on the Ford site, that’s going to be actioned."

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41304973.html

Horgan's quay starting Jan 17

https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/hundreds-new-apartments-cork-city-28410584

cantalach · 09-01-2024 10:31pm

Work has apparently started on the 15-story office building at the old Sextant site. I’m surprised that JCD still thinks we need more office space but I guess that’s why he drives an S class and I don’t.

https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/works-start-15-storey-block-28416476

DylanQuestion · 09-01-2024 10:51pm

That article is a load of rubbish. No source, inaccurate height, claims the owners of the site are the city council, claims Event Centre and Sullivan’s Quay are set to start this year (the latter having no active planning). I give up with CorkBeo

Cork developments

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