What happens when apartment blocks reach their end of life?

As above,
Has this happened yet,what would happen in theory if not?
I'm talking a private block not corpo apartments.

zell12

FitzElla

BrownFinger wrote: »

As above,
Has this happened yet,what would happen in theory if not?
I'm talking a private block not corpo apartments.

I'm not sure what you mean by end of life? Buildings don't generally just expire as long as routine maintenance and repairs are completed. In an apartment block you would expect a management company to keep the building maintained with an appropriate sinking fund in place for major repairs/replacements (e.g. roofs etc.)

L1011

There's 200+ year old apartment blocks in other countries; but those would be specifically well-built ones not a quick build thing like some of the worst examples here.

What is a semi frequent occurrence in major cities abroad is a developer slowly buying every unit that goes on sale with the intent of taking full control for redevelopment. This has happened with plenty of 30s-70s blocks in London. Otherwise a deep refit is sometimes needed and could lead to huge costs for each unit owner - the fairly well known, and listed, Embassy Court in Brighton had one when it was ~70 years old that cost about 100k a unit.

Claw Hammer

BrownFinger wrote: »

As above,
Has this happened yet,what would happen in theory if not?
I'm talking a private block not corpo apartments.

It may happen that maintenance costs rise to the point that it is uneconomic to maintain the building. At that stage the only thing to be done is for all owners to join together and sell the entire block to a developer. the developer will most likely demolish the block and rebuild on the site.

Ray Palmer

Actually in a type of situation similar. Developer approached the management board to buy the entire block as they know they can build more apartments by going smaller and up a few more stories.

The entire block has to agree but there are already some who said they wouldn't sell for any price.

L1011

L1011 wrote: »

What is a semi frequent occurrence in major cities abroad is a developer slowly buying every unit that goes on sale with the intent of taking full control for redevelopment. This has happened with plenty of 30s-70s blocks in London. Otherwise a deep refit is sometimes needed and could lead to huge costs for each unit owner - the fairly well known, and listed, Embassy Court in Brighton had one when it was ~70 years old that cost about 100k a unit.

Ah,
Thats interesting and makes sense.

Naos

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Actually in a type of situation similar. Developer approached the management board to buy the entire block as they know they can build more apartments by going smaller and up a few more stories.

The entire block has to agree but there are already some who said they wouldn't sell for any price.

That interesting - did they offer market value or above?

awec

Naos wrote: »

That interesting - did they offer market value or above?

Any time I've heard of it it's been above what a person would ever hope to get selling it on the open market.

They have to get every apartment owner to agree so they need to make it attractive to them to sell.

riclad

The city council demolished all the high tower blocks in ballymun,
they were built in the 60,s ,
the lifts broke down every few week,s , otherwise they were comfortable to live in ,they were built in the 60s.
they were replaced with 3 storey apartments .
Probably more comfortable than most of the private rented flats in dublin.
in places like london where land is expensive, they will simply knock down old apartments and build new ones with a more modern design aND sell them at a high price .

hgfj

What happens when apartment blocks reach their end of life?


They become old-folk homes, don't they?

Marcusm

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Actually in a type of situation similar. Developer approached the management board to buy the entire block as they know they can build more apartments by going smaller and up a few more stories.

The entire block has to agree but there are already some who said they wouldn't sell for any price.

Was that Ardoyne House? I imagine that saga will continue for decades.

CollyFlower

I've heard about this recently, the apartments are still in good shape but they will be demolished.... Owners will be getting over double the market value for them.

Graces7

Have a look at Kelvin flats, Sheffield Uk.

They were demolished as the housing was so large and intensive the problems with crime and gangs took over. Reports tend to play that down; I lived nearby i those years and saw the goings on. Became ungovernable

L1011

Graces7 wrote: »

Have a look at Kelvin flats, Sheffield Uk.

They were demolished as the housing was so large and intensive the problems with crime and gangs took over. Reports tend to play that down; I lived nearby i those years and saw the goings on. Became ungovernable

That's a council block. Plenty of council blocks have been redeveloped.

The OP was asking about private blocks. Generally 999 year leases here unlike the 50 or 99 that turned up in the UK in older developments too

the_syco

riclad wrote: »

The city council demolished all the high tower blocks in ballymun

They weren't maintained for years. With a private apartment block, you pay yearly fees to keep the block maintained, and in working order. The Ballymun flats were ignored, and went to sh|t.

hmmm

A well-maintained private block should lost a long time. We haven't a lot of examples of older apartment blocks in this country, but I know a few who have bought in 70s blocks who have simply redone their entire apartment interior when they bought - not cheap, but no different to what people will do with houses.

MrMusician18

BrownFinger wrote: »

As above,
Has this happened yet,what would happen in theory if not?
I'm talking a private block not corpo apartments.

Most apartments are on a 99 year leasehold in Ireland, so presumably the control of the property reverts to the developer or their successors or some other entity.

Although after 100 years finding the legitimate successors to wound up companies may not be that straight forward.

Naos

Naos wrote: »

That interesting - did they offer market value or above?

Its all down to site value, demolition and rebuilding costs. A small block in Ballsbridge on a large site would certainly be an interesting proposition, but I would not see this as a likely scenario for many of the celtic tiger constructions.


Many of these will, I feel, suffer a slow death in 40, 50, 60 years time. Lack of maintenance, deteriorating condition, reduced value, and empty apartments would crash the market value.


New buyers would not have the funds to remedy the blocks condition and the decline would continue. Eventually speculators might start buying up dirt cheap units and leaving empty until the final residents surrender, a process that might take decades.



Yes, other European cities have apartment blocks centuries old, but those that remain are large, strong, roomy, uncomplicated buidings.

L1011

MrMusician18 wrote: »

Most apartments are on a 99 year leasehold in Ireland, so presumably the control of the property reverts to the developer or their successors or some other entity.

Although after 100 years finding the legitimate successors to wound up companies may not be that straight forward.

999 is the norm not 99.