€100m apartment project unveiled on former Sextant bar site in Cork

Cork City Council has released details of an ambitious partnership with JCD Group to deliver 217 apartments as part of the proposed Railway Apartments development, which will be built on the site of JCD’s former Sextant Bar and Carey’s Tool Hire, on Albert Quay on the South Quays.

The complex includes studio apartments and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, most of which are available for rent, and around 40–50 of which have been designed specifically for the elderly and disabled.

Rents will be at least 25% below market rates. There will be no underground parking, and the ground floor space has been reserved for community and art use.

The project, consisting of two blocks of 12 and nine storeys, is similar to one previously released for the site in 2020 – with minor modifications to bring it into line with updated fire safety and housing standards.

In 2021, JCD abandoned plans to build rental apartments on the site, saying rents would need to be close to €3,000 a month to be profitable, and moved on to an office project that never materialized

The area has been empty since then.

Under the government’s Cost Rental Scheme, introduced in 2021, local authorities or housing bodies apply for grants to help cover the cost of construction. The scheme has closed the feasibility gap for housing development on the dock gate site, the council and JCD said.

The plan is the result of the council’s housing delivery process, known as the ‘competitive dialogue’, which the council’s deputy chief executive, Brian Geaney, said demonstrates the council’s commitment to delivering affordable housing in accessible locations close to the city centre.

“This new proposal for a mixed tenure scheme of 217 new homes will be a catalyst for further unlocking the potential of the docklands area as a place to work, live and socialise in the heart of Cork City and demonstrates the Council’s commitment to prioritising the development of brownfield sites as part of its mixed tenure programmes across the city,” he said.

John Cleary from JCD said they were delighted to be taking the project forward in partnership with the council.

The original vision for this site was to build apartments and following positive initiatives from the state, these affordable units can now be delivered

“The development will be known as The Railyard Apartments – in honour of the site’s history as a terminus for the Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway,” he said.

JCD also announced that it intends to simultaneously undertake the approved refurbishment of two adjacent listed buildings – the two-storey former Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway office and the adjacent single-storey former ticket office – as well as open a new bar and restaurant in the former terminus building, construct a public plaza and refurbish the former Carey House.

The announcement finally provides certainty over the future of the site, which has been vacant since the former Sextant Bar was demolished four years ago to make way for JCD’s original housing scheme of 200 units with a 25-storey tower, which was approved by An Bord Pleanála as part of the 2020 Strategic Housing Development Process.