MONARCH Properties and a company controlled by solicitor Noel Smyth have paid about £6 million for 290 acres adjoining their development lands at Cherrywood, Cabinteely, Dublin 18. Under the deal, Manor Park Homes, which only bought the land 12 months ago, has, in return, acquired Monarch's stake in 166-acres of housing land at the former Ongar Stud, near Clonsilla, Co Dublin, for a figure also around £6 million.
The Cherrywood lands will be merged with almost 140 acres held by Monarch, GRE and Mr Smyth's company, Aviette. About 64 acres of this land are to be developed as a science and technology park in conjunction with Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council, while 18 acres have been zoned for a business park.
The Wexford-based bousebuilder, William Neville, has an option to buy the remaining 56 acres for housing at £5.5 million.
The 290 acres which have changed hands have planning permission for an 18-hole golf course but the new owners will be hoping to secure a development zoning for at least part of it.
Monarch conducted a long and expensive campaign to secure planning for 500 houses on another 100-acre tranche of land in Cabinteely before selling it to Neville.
The golf course was to have occupied 170 acres next to the Neville housing land. The remaining 120 acres will eventually be separated by the proposed South-Eastern motorway which will link the Southern Cross with the N11.
Monarch has long harboured ambitions to provide a substantial shopping centre on part of the Cabinteely lands. The company could expect wide support for such a development because the site is so close to so many prosperous Dublin suburbs.
Last year, Manor Park Homes paid £3.5 million for a 52.5 per cent shareholding in the company, King of the Castle, which owns the Ongar lands. Manor Park has now acquired the balance of the shares and when a new access road is provided to the land, it hopes to secure planning permission for 1,300 houses.
The company says the development will be based on a village concept with a mixture of apartments, townhouses and a small commercial element in the existing paddocks. Ongar House, a listed Georgian house on the grounds, is to be converted to a restaurant.
