Work to start on 120 Airport Hill homes in €50m Cork project

Part of a landbank on Cork city’s Airport Hill, which famously sold for €2.4m per acre at the height of the boom, is on course for the construction of 121 homes, within a €50m development.

A consortium led by developer Denis McBarron bought the 7.23-acre site for an undisclosed sum after it returned to market in 2018 with a guide price of €3m.

Mr McBarron confirmed to The Echo that tree clearance is under way at the site and he “hopes to break ground in April”.

The scheme — across 4.5 acres of the landbank — is being developed in partnership with approved housing body Clúid, and the homes will be provided under the more affordable cost-rental model. Summerhill Construction will undertake the building work.

Mr McBarron also confirmed that plans to build a 158-bedroom hotel on the site — which adjoins the N27 Kinsale Rd — are on hold.

“Those plans are under review but I have been approached about other uses, such as healthcare, offices, etc. That part of the proposal is in its infancy,” he said.

Mr McBarron was cleared by city planners to build a 158-bedroom hotel and 134 residential units — scaled back now to 121 units — near the Kinsale Rd roundabout in 2022, having withdrawn a previous application to build 97 homes in 2020.

The approved scheme will extend across approximately 20 blocks, mostly three-storey apartments/duplexes.

Other items which the planners cleared — including a three-storey neighbourhood centre, restaurant/takeaway, retail store, gym, dental practice, and hair salon — will be included in the redesign of the hotel site, Mr McBarron said.

With about 400m of street frontage and on a key north-south corridor, midway between Cork Airport and Cork city centre, the site is close to major employment bases such as the airport and its adjoining business park, where several thousand are employed.

HISTORY

The history of the landbank is intriguing. It was once part of an 11.5-acre charitable bequest by gentleman farmer Sydney Northridge to St Luke’s Home in Mahon, where he lived out his final years.

In 2006, the 11.5 acres were put up for auction and achieved a whopping €27.5m, or €2.4m per acre. The sale included 7.23 acres on the left-hand side of Kinsale Rd/Airport Hill and 4.4 acres across the road. 

The larger site was bought by developers O’Brien & O’Flynn for €13.7m and they subsequently sought planning permission for 174 apartments on the sloping land. The site was cleared but no development took place.

The balance of the land, the 4.4 acres, was bought by Galway-based Gerry Barrett, of Edward Holdings, developer of the G Hotel in Galway, for €13.7m. He had planned a mixed-use commercial scheme, including a hotel.

Mr McBarron later acquired the 7.23-acre site.

The developer is currently active on several sites in Cork city, including one on Dunbar St, off George’s Quay, where work on the construction of 14 apartments has just begun.

He has plans for up to nine apartments in the former Paintwell Store, on Coal Quay/Portney’s Lane. He is also behind the extension of popular Palestinian eaterie Izz, on George’s Quay, where he converted space to the rear into apartments.

“I’m passionate about dereliction and getting rid of it in the city. I’ve found Cork City Council brilliant to work with,” Mr McBarron added.

The council returned 229 derelict properties to use in 2024 and was on track to surpass that figure in 2025.