Brittas Bay 240-acre site seeks €2.5m

Savills is guiding €2.5 million for a significant landholding at Brittas Bay in Co Wicklow where a €100 million hotel and golfing complex was planned.

The 240 acres of agricultural lands, which adjoin the European Club Golf Course, were owned by developer Gerry Conlan's Harlequin Resorts which teamed up with the Brennan Hotel Group in 2008 to develop a large tourism resort on the site.

The development was to include a hotel with 142 bedroom suites, an 18-hole par-72 golf course and 12 holiday cottages. It was designed as a family-friendly complex where the hotel element would feature a health spa, fitness centre, swimming pool and club house.

Also planned were an indoor sports academy, all-weather pitch, and a golf teaching and training academy.

The idea was to turn Brittas Bay into a year-round tourist destination with a diverse range of activities and facilities.

Harlequin even incorporated advice in its planning application from the National Parks and Wildlife Service about environmental protection measures so that nearby Buckroney Fen would be unaffected by the project.

Construction was to take two years and provide 200 building jobs and 150 full-time when open. However, a planning application for the development was withdrawn before Wicklow County Council was due to make its decision after council planners recommended it be refused.

The 240 acres are mostly in rough grazing, apart from some tillage on the western portion of the site. They include some derelict stone buildings used to house livestock and an aircraft hangar in poor condition which is also used for sheltering livestock. The R750 runs through the land holding.

Gerry Conlan made a killing from the 2006 sale of the Millennium Park in Naas on 417 acres for about €312 million. Nama put some 333 acres at the park on the market in April for €35 million.

Mr Conlan went on to invest in a number of property ventures but, after the market crashed, many of the loans associated with these deals were taken over by Nama.

In July last year, Deutsche Bank bought from Nama a portfolio of €400 million worth of property loans linked to Conlan – the agency had been seeking over €100 million for the so-called Project Spring portfolio.

The loan attached to the Brittas Bay site was included in the sale.