A site of 11.8 acres for a mixed commercial and residential scheme at Galloping Green in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, is expected to set a record for development land in the city when it is sold by tender on October 19th. It is the most important site to come on the market for years and should exceed the £31 million paid earlier this year for 10 acres at Griffith Avenue.

Pat Nolan of selling agents Hamilton Osborne King says the site at The Grange, in Galloping Green, owned for the last 40 years by Royal and Sun Alliance Property Investments, is ideal for a high density development. It has extensive frontage on to both Stillorgan Road and Brewery Road, with a public park and Leopardstown Tennis Club running along a third boundary.

The site is particularly suitable for a large office and apartment scheme but it will also be looked at closely by other groups including hoteliers and the promoters of a private hospital and medial clinic because of its easy accessibility. For a site of its size and importance it has a surprisingly small volume of buildings, only 34,000 sq ft of two-storey offices which were built in the 1960s. Esso Ireland and Irish Cement Ltd, who are due to vacate the offices within the next 22 months, are currently paying combined rents of £243,474.

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has given notice of its intention to grant permission for 44,700 sq ft of offices, 168 two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments and 19 houses. Designed by architects Aukett Reddy, the layout provides for the offices alongside the Stillorgan Road, with the apartments located in nine blocks ranging in height from three-storeys to five-storeys over basement car-parks. A number of local residents associations have since appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanala.

Pat Nolan says that with higher densities now being allowed, he expected that a new planning application would be made for between 250 and 300 apartments, as well as a commercial development along the Stillorgan Road frontage.

The new residential density guidelines encourage high density schemes along quality public transport corridors. The Stillorgan Road seems to fit the bill because of its quality bus corridor.

Hamilton Osborne King says that two-bedroom apartments at Galloping Green could be expected to sell for at least £260,000, while office rents would easily exceed £30 per sq ft.