Nama developer sells 74 acres opposite K Club for €1.3m

PROPERTY developer Gerry Gannon has sold 74 acres of land opposite the main entrance to the K Club in Co Kildare for €1.3 million. The sale comes as Nama is considering a business plan on the future of the internationally renowned golf resort and Ryder Cub venue.

Last summer Mr Gannon put his 49 per cent shareholding on the market at €60 million, a long way short of the original valuation of €110 million. Businessman Dr Michael Smurfit, who holds the remaining 51 per cent shareholding in the club, has the right to buy Gannon’s stake provided his offer is acceptable to Nama which has taken over responsibility for loans and assets held by the Gannon Group.

Even if he offloads his interest in the K Club, Gannon will retain all development rights on the 560-acre estate, where there is scope to build a further 250 homes. Dr Smurfit is entitled to 25 per cent of the profits from any residential development. However, there is little prospect of additional private homes being built for several years as house values in the club have fallen by roughly the same margins as those in the greater Dublin area.

In the meantime, Nama has approved the sale of the Lodge Park farmland opposite the club to a local businessman. James Meagher of selling agents HT Meagher O’Reilly said the selling price of €17,567 an acre would set a strong benchmark for agricultural land in the area.

The land has more than 200 metres of frontage onto the Straffran Road and backs onto the river Liffey to the east.

In Swords, Co Dublin, the Gannon Group has agreed a letting made in consultation with Nama which will lead to the creation of 100 jobs and quite possibly 50 more at a later stage.

Air Contractors, part of the ASL Aviation Group is to pay a rent of €300,000 per annum for The Plaza, a five-storey office block at Malahide Road. The 2,136sq m (23,000sq ft) block has 20 car parking spaces; the rent works out at €139 per sq m (€13 per sq ft).

Meanwhile the Gannon Group will be closely monitoring a Government review of transport investment priorities to serve Dublin airport with a rail spur from the Malahide Dart line at Clongriffin as an alternative to the Metro North project. Gannon developed the Clongriffin station at a cost of €20 million and owns a 250-acre landbank at Belcamp, part of which is likely to be used for a spur line to the airport. The IDA is the other major landowner in the area.

A Dart spur from Clongriffin to Dublin airport and onwards to Swords would cost an estimated €400 million as against a likely cost of €3 billion for Metro North mainly because 10km of the line would be underground.