48 luxury homes for new Citywest golf course

A scheme of £1 milllion-plus houses is planned for west Dublin by businessman Jim Mansfield, who has applied for permission to build 45 luxury homes on a new 18-hole golf course he is currently developing at Saggart, Co Dublin. He hopes to get the go-ahead shortly from South Dublin County Council to build the houses on the new course, which is adjacent to Citywest Country House Hotel and Golf Club. His new course and luxury homes will cost £50 million to develop.

Mr Mansfield's new golf course will be playable by the early summer of 2000, but the houses could be ready as early as the end of this year. The fact that the houses are on the golf course will be their main selling point, according to Mr Mansfield.

Each will stand on up to three-quarters of an acre, and some will be as big as 6,000 sq ft, with six-bedrooms. Six of the largest houses are likely to be priced up to £1.25 million, with the remainder selling for £1 million.

The trend of building houses on and near golf courses is now well-established: luxury houses were built next to the golf course at Powerscourt, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. There are also houses on the golf course at the K Club, near Straffan, in Co Kildare.

Dublin's first scheme of £1m-plus houses, in Carrickmines, Co Dublin, sold out rapidly when it was launched in April this year.

Mr Mansfield's company, HSS Ltd, has also applied to South Dublin County Council to build 275 houses on 46 acres next to the Citywest golf club at Fortunestown Lane in Saggart. This £33 million development will consist of 160 apartments and 84 duplexes, with the remainder a mix of terraced, semi-detached and 14 detached homes.

Mr Mansfield, a property developer who built and later sold the Mill Shopping Centre in Clondalkin, Dublin 22, built the Citywest golf course on the edge of the Naas dual carriageway six years ago. He recently paid £10 million for Palmerstown Stud, a 700-acre stud farm in Naas, where he is planning to build another golf course, and possibly, houses.