€120m-plus for 408-acre Kilcock estate with planning

Courtown Demesne is one of the best located tracts of development land to go for sale in the Dublin area in recent years, writes Jack Fagan

A 408-acre (165 hectares) country estate beside Kilcock, Co Kildare, is to be offered for sale by tender following the granting of planning permission for a business park, hotel, 90 tourist homes and an 18-hole golf course.

It is one of the largest and best located tracts of development land to go for sale in the greater Dublin area in recent years, according to Tony Campbell of Lisney. The joint selling agents will be Colm McEvoy Commercial.

Both agents will be quoting over €120 million for the Courtown Demesne - equating to less than €300,000 per acre - when it goes to tender on November 2nd. It has about 1.3kms of frontage to the M4 and 4.3kms of county roads. A new interchange on the M4 is close to the estate.

The sale comes at a time when ready-to-go sites have been selling briskly, both to developers and investment syndicates. There is currently a large number of housing sites on the market but most of them are relatively small and located either in the Dublin suburbs or within easy commuting distance of the city.

The exception, in terms of size, is the 25-acre Irish Glass Bottle site at Ringsend which is expected to make over €300 million.

More than 80 acres of the Kilcock estate are zoned for a business park. Although planning permission has been granted for 63,173sq m (680,000sq ft) of business, office and technology facilities in 26 buildings, the zoning offers a new owner the opportunity to increase the density.

With Kilcock officially designated as a centre within the Dublin metropolitan area, the planners envisage that, as it is already in a "primary dynamic cluster", it should be a "main attractor for major investment and strong international marketing".

In other words, Kilcock should be in line for a number of international firms, given its good road network and easy accessibility to Dublin.

Musgraves has built its national distribution centre in Kilcock. The town is currently served by the Arrow commuter railway service.

There is also planning permission on Courtown Demesne for a 126-bedroom hotel along with a conference centre and the inevitable spa, all included in a floor area of 7,000sq m (75,000sq ft).

Permission has also been granted for 90 "holiday" apartments and houses. In addition, the current zoning allows for 50 conventional houses as well as an unspecified number of apartments.

The backdrop to the development on the beautifully wooded estate - about 75 acres of woodlands are designated as open space - will be an 18-hole golf course, clubhouse and practice area.

The fact that Kilcock is only 22 miles from the city should ensure that the golf course will also share the success of the K Club and Carton Estate which are also in north Kildare.

The owners of the Courtown estate are planning to retain the 18th century house and about 32 acres of grounds, including formal gardens. Like all the best country houses, it has a gated entrance, wonderful grounds with cut-stone courtyards and a walled garden.

The house dates from 1815 - it was enlarged in 1890 and again in 1902 - and has a floor area of 1,486sq m (16,000sq ft). It replaces an earlier house looted and burned during the 1798 rebellion. The owner, Michael Aylmore, could not afford to rebuild it because he did not get sufficient compensation from the state.

However, his son later rebuilt the house with a particularly spacious hall which is dominated by a massive oak staircase. There are four main reception rooms and 10 bedrooms. The extensive basement is fully used and has 16 rooms, including a wine cellar.