Thanet property developer Blueberry Homes says it is way ahead of schedule at the Ramsgate seafront Royal Sands development with the sale of 46 luxury apartments, including all 21 from phase two, sold in the last eight weeks and generating over £10 million.
The Royal Sands development is a three-year programme to build 106 luxury apartments, a 60-bed hotel, leisure facilities, restaurants and shops in a £50 million redevelopment project of the former Pleasurama amusements and funfair site.
Work onsite began at the end of the summer of 2020 and Blueberry Homes is due to start construction of the next phase – nearly 12 months ahead of schedule. Residents are settling into the first phase apartments.
A Blueberry Homes spokesperson said: “We’re bowled over by the level of demand for the Royal Sands Ramsgate development and as every week passes, demand for the scheme grows.
“We’ve had some lovely comments about the apartments and the scheme in general, and we’re all looking forward to its evolution and to see its positive impact on the seafront and the towns economy over time.
“We see the development becoming a part of the fabric of Ramsgate’s seafront lifestyle and culture.”
A national report in 2021 published by Property Market Index.com discovered a rising demand from Londoners wanting a home by the sea, suggesting that more people working from home as a result of COVID and the subsequent need for more space at an affordable cost, as well as a new desire to leave the urban confines of a city after months of lockdown, is driving up demand.
Out of 20 seaside towns, Ramsgate was listed as the number one most desirable area to relocate to from London in the latest Property Market Index Rating.
Blueberry Homes sees the rise in coastal property demand coinciding with the regeneration of Ramsgate’s seafront, saying: “The seafront is becoming a vibrant, culturally rich place to enjoy, there’s a great buzz about the seafront and Royal Harbour, which just celebrated 200 years of royal ascent in September, and it definitely seems to be heading to a new dawn.”
The Royal Sands plot had been empty since a fire in 1998 devastated the former funfair on the land. Thanet council made a compulsory purchase on the land in 2001 after plans for a shopping centre failed to take place. In 2004 planning permission was granted for a 60-bed hotel, 107 residential apartments, leisure facilities and retail.
The deal was headed by development company SFP Venture UK but work never got underway and lengthy wrangles followed.
In 2019 significant control of the Ramsgate Development Company, which holds the leases, was taken over by Martin Rigden of Blueberry Homes and construction began in 2020.
Find apartment details at www.royalsandsramsgate.co.uk
“106 luxury apartments”
Lovely if you can afford it, meanwhile your average family who use the council benefits system get penalised for when a child leaves home by having rent money deducted leaving more families homeless.
We need some more affluent people to pay council tax to enable the council to help the poorer, especially since the Conservatives austerity policies have hammered the poor and made the rich even richer. Remember this next time you vote.
I wouldn’t be someone who votes Conservative.. that would be silly
We don’t want more Council tenants moving here, we want better off people with money to regenerate the area . rthey will spend , not scrounge.
Thats a shitty attitude, im not on benefits out of choice, and i seriously hope oneday you find yourself in need of the support network put in place. but then you wouldnt be a scrounger would you.! lets just allow even more working people who also claim help towards housing rent to go without.
You do realise a lot of working couples have to claim UC to due to the poor pay people get ?
I presume you are being ironic as the area needs more affordable housing and I mean for the low paid which is most jobs
I think they are a fantastic development in every respect Blueberry have a lot to be proud of.
They won’t be so fantastic Bill, if Manston should re-open! Its possible to draw a line directly over the development to the centre of the runway, which would mean a dirty old cargo plane flying over every 2 or more hours, at less than 300 meters high! I wonder if this has been taken into consideration by the purchasers?
Sorry that should read 2 or more dirty old cargo planes an hour!
So you would rather not have an airport then ?
What do you think Wevsky? Luckily for the developers the DCO to reopen Manston will fail, because it can’t show any “National Need” for another cargo airport! Not while there is plenty of spare capacity in other airports in better locations, like the Midlands!
Good news for Ramsgate. An influx of wealthier residents, even if only as seasonal or at weekends, will benefit local businesses and add to much needed Council Tax receipts.
Some of this £10M could be gainfully spent on resurrecting and maintaining the public lift that helps to frame this desirable setting.
That will follow once the residents move in I am sure.
Would’ve made a great location for a Fun Fair.
An excellent development, most attractive buildings and an asset to Ramsgate.
I am so glad that the height was restricted to below that of Wellington Crescent resulting in a very pleasing development.
Moaners? Think of what was there for 2 decades previously and think again of what Godden would have done with the area…….
This development will undoubtably bring life and soul back toRamsgate seafront.
Peter we had one of them but it was built with bricks made of fire- lighters. On the positive side had it not been the case we would not be l looking at this excellent development.
Good Job it burned down then? is that what you are saying,Fires lit by Mr Godden could well be a best seller if ever written
Exactly Wevsky. There should be NO “positive side” to (allegedly) arson.
Why the negativity ? Owners with plenty of money to spend, very little drain on local resources and services and overall net contributors to the system rather than takers.
I’m not negative about the development… just the way it came about in the first place.
Must say I am flabbergasted at the prices! The penthouse flat in the old Foy Boat pub is nearly a million pounds!!!
Shame it is likely to be flooded with the rising sea level within the next 50 years.
. . . not if you glue enough climate protesters to the road to stop the incoming tide !
Cnut tried … and failed.
Several informed commentators have, over recent years, pointed out that the foundations of the site are loose chalk rubble from the tunnel excavations; the concrete reinforced piles show considerable rusting on the rebar (they’ve been exposed to the elements for a decade) and the sea level is rising.
Not for nothing are there no ground level apartments.
Personally, I’d spend my money on something else.
No need for that sort of language!
Cnut wasn’t trying to stop the tide coming in- he was trying to show his courtiers (not that that’s really the right word for them at the time, I think) that there were things he couldn’t control.
Luxury flats with all the free seaside tomatoes you can pick!
Great development So useful for airbnb on the sea lettings!.
The under construction retail,catering units will do well, not your usual local booze,chew & spew establishments.
Well done Blueberry !
What I find most impressive about this whole development is how they’ve arranged for the sun to now set over Ramsgate. Quite an incredible achievement. I wonder when they’ll flick the switch.
The sun sets over the west side of Ramsgate, if you are standing on the beach then the sun will set in the direction of the sailors church. More shadow over the main sands is shown from the pavilion
My point exactly…. the flats point south east.
Dear oh dear,
at least something is being done and at the old gasworks site as well. No, they are not my choice of dwelling, but hopefully they will be to others.
As for social housing, it needs to be linked to a good cheap transport system, well built, cheap to run in terms of energy and water, and capable of being maintained inexpensively, for at least 50 years.
What we received in the past 2 decades is hardly any social housing, what there is badly maintained, poorly built, and tucked away, so that the unhappy tenants are out of sight and mind. Badly converted 60’s office blocks on industrial estates will not do.
A dream come true for millionares,from london.
That link doesn’t work (the site is a .com, not a .co.uk):
https://www.royalsandsramsgate.com/
Slightly off topic, but what do people think of those plasticky windmills erected on the cliff top. They are visible in one of the photos in this article. I think they look awful.
They look OK to me in the pics (not seen ’em up close).
I like them and only there temporarily
If you call a year temporarily!!!
Stupid waste of money
A year is temporary
I like them.
As a return having left Thanet for over 30 years and now been here for 8 years I can only say the investment really shows it is becoming a vibrant place to live. Not just a day trip