Bartra secures €4.15m from sale of south Dublin residential site

By Ronald Quinlan – 25th January 2023 – Article on the Irish Times

Developer Richard Barrett’s Bartra property group has secured €4.15 million from the off-market disposal of a prime residential development site at Woodlands Park in the south Dublin suburb of Blackrock.

Located off Mount Merrion Avenue, the 0.283-hectare (0.72-acre) site, which has full planning permission for 26 apartments, has been acquired by Keith Craddock’s Red Rock Developments. The price paid represents an average of €159,600 per unit.

Prior to its acquisition by Bartra in 2018, the Woodlands Park property known as Grove Lodge had served as the long-time home of Ray Stafford, the man behind Sudocrem. While the 1940s house was not publicly advertised for sale, an examination of the Property Price Register shows that Bartra paid €4 million for it.

The subject site at 45 Woodlands Park now has planning permission in place for a high-specification, five-storey building comprising 26 build-to-sell apartments with large balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows. The scheme also provides for 26 surface car-parking spaces with landscaped open space. Having secured approval for this development, Bartra subsequently sought permission for a revised scheme comprising 38 build-to-rent apartments aimed towards the “later living” or retirees’ market. While this proposal received the green light from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council last October, it remains the subject of an appeal to An Bord Pleanála by local residents.

Commenting on his company’s plans for the Blackrock site, Red Rock founder and chief executive Keith Craddock said: “We are delighted to have acquired this super-prime residential site and look forward to developing luxury apartments in this sought-after location.”

Richard Bielenberg, who handled the sale on behalf of Colliers, said: “Woodlands Park is such a great location for newly built apartments and we expect to see very solid demand for the completed development.”