A docklands deal . . . if you're on the list

Grand Canal Square Residences: 21 apartments go on the market today priced from €190,000 to €275,000. They are located between the second and the seventh floors of the building, which incorporates a hotel that has yet to open.

Those on Dublin City Council’s affordable housing list are being offered luxury – if compact – apartments in the new Grand Canal Square Residences in the DocklandsEDEL MORGAN

Docklands apartments beside the Grand Canal Theatre that were set aside for those on the affordable housing list are to be offered to first-time buyers today at prices starting from €190,000.

The 21 apartments at Grand Canal Square Residences aren’t quite what you’d expect of apartments being marketed as affordable. They have marble bathrooms, high-gloss kitchens and floor-to-ceiling windows.

The look is smart boutique hotel, so it comes as no surprise that they’re attached to a hotel – the architecturally dramatic Grand Canal Square Hotel – which the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) says is due to open in mid-2011, although a hotel operator has yet to be signed up.

The apartments are located between the second and seventh floors of the eight-storey building. One-beds start at €190,000, two-beds range from €230,000 and three-beds are available at €250,000, rising to €275,000 for the higher floors and depending on whether there is a terrace. The selling agent is Lisney.

The apartments are part of the the DDDA’s quota of affordable apartments and are being offered to anyone on Dublin City Council’s affordable housing list. There is no longer a clawback restriction imposed on affordable buyers, where you are obliged to pay a percentage of the sale price back if you sold within 20 years. Any first-time buyer that earns under €58,000 (or €75,000 in the case of a couple) is eligible to buy on a first-come first-served basis. Those not on the list can register as an affordable buyer with Dublin City Council, at a cost of €50.

There are already 3,000 people on the council’s list, and these will be given first chance to view the apartments.

The deposit for an apartment is €3,000, and buyers have to give evidence of sufficient savings to fund the balance of the purchase price not being funded under their loan. They can apply to Dublin City Council for a loan to finance the purchase, but have to first demonstrate that they’ve been refused a loan by two banks.

Built by Heritage Properties, the one-, two- and three-bed apartments look out onto Forbes Street and Lazer Lane. There are over 100 apartments in the block. The remaining 84 units will be used as additional accommodation by the hotel.

There are six one-beds, eight two-beds, and seven three-beds in two blocks. The bathrooms are all identical – white and grey flecked marble with high-spec chrome fittings, heated towel rails and mirrored cabinets. Some of the units have wide entrance halls, large enough to fit a piece of furniture or a little office, and a few have long, narrow terraces.

Most of the apartments are without balconies or terraces, but floor-to-ceiling glass doors in the living rooms fold back the entire width of the room to reveal a glass safety barrier.

The apartments are more suitable for single people and couples than families. Even though there’s a high proportion of three-beds, they aren’t really suitable for small children in terms of size – they range from 43sq m to 78sq m (463sq ft to 840sq ft) – and due to the fact that a young child could feasibly climb over the safety barrier.

There’s a great feeling of light and space with floor-to-ceiling windows in bedrooms and living rooms. The corner units have glass windows on two sides of the room which makes it a bit like being in a goldfish bowl, but it’s nothing an investment in blinds couldn’t sort out.

Kitchens are high-gloss white and come with a fridge-freezer, washing machine and oven. They are slightly bigger than the average galley-size kitchen and are either part of the living space or, in some units, separated by a partition.

One curious thing is the way freestanding wardrobes are plonked in bedrooms as if they were an afterthought.

And if you lived there you could end up suffering from balcony envy, because the residents of Hanover Quay and Forbes Quay have the most spacious, well-tended balconies in the city – with some even using them as an outdoor living room. There’s a large paved and landscaped roof garden on the eighth floor of Grand Canal Residences with great views of the city.

The service charge ranges from €1,000 for one-beds to €1,650 for three-beds, though a new management company has yet to be appointed. The apartments will be on view this evening from 5pm -6