Cork a 'priority' for Land Development Agency housing sites
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The Land Development Agency (LDA) is set to partner in the development of a second large-scale apartment scheme in Cork city docklands by year end, with speculation centred on Glenveagh Properties’ plans for more than 1,000 homes near the Marina.
It’s also progressing plans for 900 homes in the Marina Quarter, including 600 at the former ESB Marina generating station site on Centre Park Road, and 300 at a Bord na Móna site on nearby Monahan Road. The government has already approved the transfer of the lands to the LDA, albeit both are viewed as long-term development projects.
LDA chief executive John Coleman told the “Cork is very much a priority for us”.
“We think Dublin is largely built out. There may be infill sites available, but the opportunity in Cork, particularly in the docklands, is massive, and one that we anticipate playing a big role in.”
Substantial LDA housing delivery is also earmarked for the Port of Cork’s Tivoli landbank which could potentially support 5,000 homes.
“Development of the Tivoli docklands is still a good bit away, but we are working on it. It will be 5,000 [housing units], so it’s quite a big development pipeline,” Mr Coleman said.
The LDA is already active on two sites in the city — at the former St Kevin’s hospital site in Shanakiel, where it's on target to deliver the first 100 of 266 homes by next summer, and in the North Docks at Horgan’s Quay, where BAM and Clarendon are 12 weeks into a 24-month project to deliver 302 apartments.
And Mr Coleman said they intend to announce a third site later this year. The most likely contender is Glenveagh Properties, which has planning permission for more than 1,000 apartments on a five-hectare site off Centre Park Road, where site clearance has been underway for months.
The company’s chief executive, Stephen Garvey, previously told the that the likelihood was “we’d be working with a State agency on that development and it will be a mixture of affordable purchase, cost-rental and an element of social units as well”.
Mr Coleman said they have “a very strong appetite to move on significant developments in the docklands area”.
“There are a number of apartment schemes in the docklands that we are contemplating facilitating," he said, adding that they have a panel of development partners, which includes Glenveagh, the O'Flynn Group and O’Callaghan Properties (OCP).
Separately, the LDA recently agreed a deal with the ESB in Wilton for the transfer of a 2.7-hectare site, where it plans to build 350 homes, with construction starting early next year and a target of late 2028 for delivery.
Further out of town, in Kilbarry, 41 hectares of IDA-owned land have been identified for transfer to the LDA, with a long-term plan to deliver 1,500 homes.
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