{"id":98874,"date":"2025-10-23T09:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T09:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/98874\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T09:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T09:01:11","slug":"lda-committed-to-almost-e500m-housing-investment-in-cork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/98874\/","title":{"rendered":"LDA committed to almost \u20ac500m housing investment in Cork"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE Land Development Agency (LDA) has committed up to half a billion euros to housing delivery in Cork, including c \u20ac136m at Horgan\u2019s Quay, where a topping out ceremony is due to take place this weekend.<\/p>\n

Agency chief John Coleman confirmed to the Irish Examiner that the \u201cballpark for Cork to date\u201d is \u201calmost half a billion euros of committed or near-committed investment\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn Coleman, chief executive, The Land Development Agency. Picture: Mike Shaughnessy<\/p>\n

Among their signature Cork projects currently under construction are\u00a0<\/p>\n

The delivery of 302 apartments on Horgan\u2019s Quay in partnership with Clarendon Properties, the first large-scale residential development in the city since the Elysian was built in 2008;
\n The construction of 266 homes at the former St Kevin\u2019s Hospital site in Shanakiel;
\n The delivery of 337 apartments at the former Live at the Marquee site on the Marina, as part of a \u20ac150m deal with developer Glenveagh Properties Plc.<\/p>\n

In addition, the agency is progressing plans for 348 homes on a 2.61ha former ESB site in Wilton. Hot on the heels of gaining planning approval for development of the greenfield site this week, it set about tendering for the project. Contractors have until November 19 to respond to a pre-qualification questionnaire, after which a shortlist of suitable bidders will be drawn up.<\/p>\n

\"AA Computer generated image of what Wilton could look like<\/p>\n

\u201cWe anticipate good contractor interest in it and we will be on site next year,\u201d said Mr Coleman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve already done\u00a0the detailed design, so\u00a0contractors can give us a firm bid at this stage. We are hoping by doing that work up front, that it reduces the need for time extensions. We are saying Q4 at the moment, but we are going to try and beat that and pull it back to late summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Coleman also confirmed that a planning\u00a0application to build 147 apartments at Anglesea\u00a0Terrace \u2014 currently used\u00a0as a depot and car park by Cork City Council staff \u2014 is imminent. The development will include one 16-storey block, just slightly lower than the nearby 17-storey Elysian tower.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an application going in this month for Anglesea Terrace, which is our first partnership with Cork City Council and so we are very happy about that one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a tall building as well \u2014 we top out at 16 storeys \u2014 but it will be sympathetic to the properties around it, so it starts low, at four storeys, near a protected structure [St Joachim and Anne\u2019s, a 19th century redbrick] and the tallest block is closer to the Elysian,\u201d the LDA chief said.<\/p>\n

\"AA CGI of what Anglesea Tce might look like<\/p>\n

It was a good time to go to tender, he said, as the slowdown in office block and data centre building projects meant there was good capacity in the contractor market.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that capacity, coupled with the efficient design we have for Anglesea Terrace, will hopefully make it good value. By keeping the costs lower, it lowers the rents, so it\u2019s in everyone\u2019s interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Anglesea Terrace site will be developed by the LDA with Cork City Council<\/p>\n

Mr Coleman travels to Cork this weekend for the milestone topping out ceremony at Horgan\u2019s Quay which takes place on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"ApartmentApartment blocks at Horgans Quay, near Kent Station, where the original Station Master’s House will form a centrepiece Picture: Larry Cummins<\/p>\n

\u00a0He said it was important to celebrate the progress of a project that has had \u201ca catalytic effect\u201d on development of the docklands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what you are seeing on the docks in Cork is the catalytic effect. Three years ago when we were hosting stakeholder engagement meetings, it was very hard to see a way forward. We were talking a lot about our plans and where we were going, but it was very difficult to see a way of unlocking these. But fast forward three years and the catalytic effect of what everyone is doing \u2014 developers, ourselves, and the local authority \u2014 is huge.<\/p>\n

\"AndAnd that’s a wrap: View of close to completion Horgan’s Quay apartments from the South Docks. Picture: Larry Cummins<\/p>\n

\u201cSo taking the first step at Horgan\u2019s Quay was the big one that catalysed activity in other areas like the Glenveagh [Marina Depot] site, and like other things that\u00a0we are bringing through. Communicating this and\u00a0giving confidence to the public is very important, so really that\u2019s the purpose of marking the progress at Horgan\u2019s Quay.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he was reluctant to put an exact figure on the Horgan\u2019s Quay development \u201cbecause we have a number of other developments we are trying to negotiate at the moment with developers and it would just signal our pricing too much\u201d, he did say it was \u201cone of our better value projects\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s certainly in line with a lot of other stuff that we have done \u2014 \u20ac400,000 to \u20ac450,000 per unit \u2014 that would be a ballpark of the overall deal size,\u201d he said, which, based on 302 units, puts it at somewhere between \u20ac120m-\u20ac136m.<\/p>\n

In terms of the type of tenure at Horgan\u2019s Quay, Mr Coleman said the intention was for \u201cthe vast majority to be operated at cost rental\u201d \u2014 which means the new apartments should be offered at around 25% below market levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are determining the social allocation at the moment, but we are focusing on cost rental because we think the need right now is around affordable apartments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The project is due for practical completion in September 2026 and Mr Coleman said they\u2019d be \u201cmaking it available to residents after that\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said they will probably start \u201crunning the lottery\u201d for apartments prior to practical completion \u201cso we can minimise the amount of delay time for people getting in\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there should be people in Horgan\u2019s Quay before the end of next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agency was hopeful of also having people living on the former St Kevin\u2019s site by the end of next year, he said. While the first phase \u2014 townhouses, apartments, and duplexes \u2014 should be completed by mid summer 2026, phase two, the restoration and conversion of the fire-damaged redbrick hospital building into apartments was \u201cgoing to be challenging\u201d, Mr Coleman said. The LDA had previously predicted the first homes would come on stream at St Kevin\u2019s in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"MembersMembers of the LDA on a site visit at St Kevin’s Hospital in September 2024<\/p>\n

Other sites in the city in the LDA\u2019s crosshairs include CIE land, adjoining Kent Station, on the North Docks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in discussion with CIE about that at the moment – that could yield up to 500 homes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked if they were in discussion with O\u2019Callaghan Properties about developing Kennedy Quay, on the South Docks, Mr Coleman said: \u201cDue to commercial sensitivity, I can\u2019t say much about it at the moment, other than to say that we are very interested in working with any developers who have opportunities in the Cork City area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The LDA is also \u201cgoing through the legals\u201d in relation to IDA-owned lands in Kilbarry, with potential to yield up to 2,500 homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe northern part of\u00a0that site is transferring to us, so we are just going through the legals on that at the moment, and there\u2019s a framework plan that has been developed by the local authority to determine whether additional lands up there would be suitable for residential development \u2014 that\u2019s the southern part.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we are clear that the northern part is suitable, the southern part we are just trying to work out at the moment, so it could all end up coming over to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Work is also underway to transfer a former ESB site in the marina to the LDA, as well as nearby Bord na M\u00f3na-owned lands, which, between them, could deliver 900 homes. Mr Coleman said the Bord na M\u00f3na site would be transferred by the end of the year, but that the ESB site which is \u201ca bigger opportunity for us\u201d will take longer due to complex decontamination processes.<\/p>\n

Mr Coleman said the LDA is very focused on owning land going forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cLand is a big thing for us and the reason for that is we want to become much more in control of the output that we have by owning the land.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to partner with developers on an ongoing basis, like Glenveagh and Clarendon, but we want to control our own output as much as possible over the medium to longer term.<\/p>\n

\u201cDirect development like the stuff that we are doing at St Kevin\u2019s and Wilton and Anglesea Terrace will eclipse in size the amount of stuff we are doing with developers at the moment, which is the largest output that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Coleman said while state land is very important to the agency, \u201cthere is not enough to fulfil the ambition we have in terms of scale so we are acquisitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have anything at an advanced stage of discussion with landowners in Cork at the moment, but we are very open to acquisitions in the Cork area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just as big a priority for us as Dublin. In fact, we think there might be more opportunity in the Cork area for larger scale sites. So we are very interested in acquiring sites, but nothing that I could hand on heart tell you is well advanced at this point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE Land Development Agency (LDA) has committed up to half a billion euros to housing delivery in Cork,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5658,72,61,60],"class_list":["post-98874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-irish-examiner-instagram","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}