Controversial Johnstown apartment site on market for €850,000
A THREE-ACRE development site on the Metges Road in Johnstown, which has planning permission for 104 apartments and commercial space, has been put on the market with a guide price of €850,000.
The controversial site prompted protests in 2019 from local residents over the scale of the development and the impact it would have on adjoining properties as well as traffic in the area.
The 1.23 hectares site, which is located adjacent to the Johnstown Shopping Centre and Bailis Village Apartments, is directly on front of the IDA Business Park. It was recently listed for sale on daft.ie by agents BIDx1 is due to go under the hammer by public auction online.
The site was granted planning permission by an Bord Pleanala in 2019 for the construction of four buildings ranging in height from four to five storeys over basement to include 104 residential apartments and 1,536 sq. m. of commercial space.
As it was deemed a Strategic Housing Development, it went straight to Bord Pleanala who ruled in favour of the application with conditions attached.
A previous application for the site, lodged by Hunt Capital Ltd in 2017, was granted permission by Meath County Council for 99 apartments, a commercial hub, sports facility and a car park with 205 spaces. The development consisted of five buildings of up to five-storeys in height and met strong opposition from local residents, with 20 submissions lodged, including a community one with 450 signatures.
The granting of permission was later overturned on appeal by an Bord Pleanala who stated that it would “constitute a substandard form of urban development”.
However, less than a year later, Hunt Capital Ltd came back with a revised application for the site, which this time went straight to an Bord Pleanala as a Strategic Housing Development, bypassing Meath County Council. The plans included 104 apartments in four buildings of up to five storeys and in October 2019, the Bord gave the green light for the development but with a condition attached that the surface car parking of 70 spaces be replaced with open space. It was also a condition that the vehicular entrance at the northern section of the site between blocks C and D be omitted as well as an extension to pedestrian and cycle facilities along the frontage of the site.
Cal Mooney, a homeowner in Bailis, was a vocal opponent to the development and led the charge on the residents' objections to an Bord Pleanala at the time. He said that while the site has planning permission, the opinion they were given from their planning consultant who assisted with their objections, was that it was unlikely to be feasible to build the development with the restrictions that were imposed by an Bord Pleanala.
“At €850,000, it is not an awful lot of money for a 1.32 hectares site in a built up area. It is being sold at a knock down price as under current permission, with restrictions particularly over parking, it is most unlikely to be feasible for it to be built in its current format,” said Cal.
“The opinion we got from our planning consultant at the time of the bord ruling, was that it is likely that whoever would look to develop the site in the future would go back in for planning again to make the site viable.”