Guinness sell more land in Castleknock

The Guinness family is to sell its remaining houses and land on the edge of the Phoenix Park at Castleknock, Co Dublin.

Three houses rented to tenants along with 27.7 acres of housing development land are expected to make in excess of £25 million when they are sold by tender on June 21st through DTZ Sherry FitzGerald.

The sale will take place just a year after the Government paid £23 million for Farmleigh, the spectacular Guinness mansion on 78 acres at Castleknock which is to be used as a State guest-house for visiting dignitaries and for important State functions.

The houses and land now going on the market run the length of White's Road, opposite the front gate of Castleknock College, to the White's Gate entrance to the Phoenix Park. It looks directly over the wooded grounds of Farmleigh. The fourth Earl of Iveagh, Edward Guinness, who lives on the 23,000 acre Elveden estate in Suffolk, also has a 700-acre cattle breeding farm near Ratoath, Co Meath.

A Sunday Times "Young Rich List" published recently found that the "old money" Earl of Iveagh, 30, headed the list of the 60 richest millionaires aged 30 or under. The paper estimated his wealth at £600 million sterling, more than twice that of the next richest man, Charles Nasser, also 30, who launched the ClaraNET internet provider four years ago.

Most of Dublin's leading housebuilders will be in competition for the Castleknock land, which is to be offered for sale in four lots rather than one, in the expectation that it will make more money that way.

The location, along one of the least developed roads around the Phoenix Park, will put a high value on sites, particularly those along a narrow strip of land running towards the Phoenix Park. These are likely to be the most sought after individual housing sites to become available in the Dublin area in recent years.

White's Road forms part of a particularly popular walk - residents of the Georgian Village in Castleknock have a right of way on to it - because of its superb woodlands and the fact that few cars use the road, since the entrance gates to the park are closed to all but pedestrians. Local residents will be surprised to discover that the Guinness land has been zoned for low density housing for many years. Although only one house per acre is permitted under the current zoning, developers will obviously be expecting to get permission for a more comprehensive scheme following the recent introduction of higher density guidelines by the Government.

The bulk of the land - 24.2 acres at the Castleknock College end - will probably be used for a mixture of large detached houses and smaller townhouses and apartments. Under the new guidelines, developers could expect to get permission for at least six large houses per acre and between 10 and 15 apartments and townhouses per acre on the remainder of the site.

Even as the densities now stand, Peter Lynch of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald estimates that a 2,500 sq ft house on an acre at White's Road would make around £1.5 million at today's values. Four-bedroom detached homes would sell for around £400,000, he says, while four-bedroom semis and three-bedroom townhouses would probably fetch £330,000 and £270,000.

The first lot to be offered for sale will include two houses and 24.2 acres with frontage on to both College Road and White's Road. It is likely to make well in excess of £20 million.

The main house, Mount Hybla, is a two-storey over basement Georgian house with a floor area of almost 3,400 sq ft. The second house, Shandys Lodge, is an unremarkable two-storey residence with just over 2,000 sq ft of floor space. Both houses are in need of refurbishment.

Lot 2 comprises White's Lodge, a two-storey home dating from the 1950s and equally undistinguished, which will probably be demolished and replaced by a more appropriate house for such a superb site. The site area in this case is 1.8 acres, enough ground for at least two new expensive houses.

The third lot, like the previous one, may also appeal to private buyers looking for a site for two or three houses. This site has 1.73 acres and runs up to the edge of the Phoenix Park. There is every likelihood that lots 2 and 3, with a total of 3.5 acres, may be acquired by the same purchaser for a small development of large expensive houses. The two lots are expected to make at least £6 million when they go to tender.

In the event that the three individual lots do not make in excess of the guideline prices the Iveagh Trustees may choose to offer the three houses and the entire land for sale in one lot.