Councillor slams 'ridiculous' price developers want County Council to pay for proposed apartments
The main developer of the new town at Cherrywood in Dublin wants €41m for 126 social housing homes.
Hines Ireland has applied for permission to build more than 1,200 apartments as well as shops, restaurants and cafes.
The new town centre would be built alongside the newly created Tully Park, which is currently under construction and equivalent in size to St Stephen’s Green. The plan comprises 1,269 build-to-rent apartments, as well as 585,000 square feet of retail and leisure outlets comprising shopping, restaurants and cafés.
The firm said the town centre would be “pedestrian and bike friendly”, including a series of covered and open public spaces “that will be enlivened by an extensive choice of shops, bars, restaurants,” and a hotel.
It is proposing Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council pay €358,000 for a two-bedroom home.
Local representative Ossian Smyth says that is madness.
He said: "So they've come to us with what is a ridiculous estimate and there is no way we are going to pay €41m for 126 apartments.
"They're not on the right planet."
The proposed Cherrywood Town Centre will also be served by new bus routes to complement existing Dublin Bus services into the area as well as a bus link to the Shankill Dart station.
The town will have over 150 charging points for electric vehicles.
Hines said construction would take three years, with 3,000 employed over the course of the various build stages.
It said if granted planning permission, it hoped to start construction in the second quarter of next year and that eventually, Cherrywood town centre would be home to over 3,200 people, with the potential to accommodate 2,300 office staff and provide employment for more than 2,500 retail workers.
