Marlet property group, formerly New Generation Homes, wants to add 76 apartments to a development where it already has permission for more than 280 homes.
Dublin City Council recently gave the company permission to build a total of 283 apartments in a series of blocks at Carriglea, Muirfield, near Bluebell in the capital's southwestern suburbs.
Marlet has asked the council to be allowed to add a further 79 apartments to the development, bringing the total to 362. It recently applied for permission to add an extra storey to a number of the blocks that it is proposing to build on the site.It is understood the company decided on the move after the council eased height restrictions in a strategic development plan for the area.
The company plans to begin building at the site shortly. The apartments are amongst 1,500 that Marlet intends to sell under development to institutional investors in a deal that could be worth €450 million.
Marlet recently hired property dealer Savills to sell a number of its Dublin development sites to overseas investors before the homes themselves are completed.
Carriglea is part of the deal. The others include Mount Argos in Harold's Cross, also on the city's south side, where it is building 180 apartments.
Close to this site, the developer has permission to build 209 new homes on the site of St Clare’s Convent.
In coming months it is due to resubmit an application for permission to build more than 350 houses and apartments close to St Paul's College, Raheny, on Dublin's north side. Marlet's original proposal for 86 houses and 270 apartments angered locals, who objected to the plan saying that the loss of playing fields from the development would damage amenities in the area. Marlet subsidiary Crekav is likely to submit a fresh application in the second half of this year.
Free up funds
The company will need an estimated €2 billion to build all the new homes that it has planned. It sought a buyer for 27 sites last year in an effort to free up funds for development, but withdrew them from market when bids fell short of its expectations.
Marlet's sole backer is London-based M&G Investments. One of its founders, Greg Kavanagh, left the company late last year. His former collaborator, chief executive Pat Crean, stayed with the business.
New Generation/Marlet began by buying sites when values hit a low during the recession that followed the collapse of the Republic’s financial system and property market almost a decade ago.
