At least three major UK leisure/residential developers have joined the tender competition for the 87-acre Balmoral Golf course site in the heart of Belfast's prime residential area.
The site is unquestionably the most important residential development site in Northern Ireland. Any development would be low density and site values are likely to be more than £1 million sterling per acre.
A major element of the tendering process involves the developers' proposals to re-locate the club. Balmoral members are prepared to move to the countryside but are adamant that their new club will be the most prestigious in Northern Ireland. Members are talking about it as the North's new "K" club.
The leading Irish tender is understood to come from Dunloe Ewart which has joined the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society (RUAS) in proposing a scheme that would incorporate the RUAS's adjoining 33-acre site in a mixed hotel, show-ground, and tree-lined residential project.
Dunloe originally approached the club over a year ago with the suggestion that it would buy and redevelop the site in return for a cash sum and the building of a prestigious new club outside the city.
Balmoral retained the services of advisers, Lisney and PricewaterhouseCooper. The tendering system was completed just over a week ago and a preferred-bidder short-list is being drawn up. A final decision is expected in the autumn. It is understood that there were 12 tenders and the short list of three will be prepared within a month and presented to the club membership of just under 1,000. Most of the members live in the Malone/Balmoral area and advisers say the successful bid will be one that provides the residential scheme with the best amenities to suit the area - and the best replacement club.
Dunloe Ewart's Northern Ireland director, Barry Gilligan said: "It seemed natural to team up with the RUAS and put forward a better planned and more comprehensive scheme that integrates the golf club land with the adjoining RUAS site that includes The King's Hall and Balmoral Showgrounds.
"This imaginative scheme will help to solve some of the traffic and other potential planning problems that have been mooted if the golf club re-development goes ahead while keeping the RUAS in Belfast with new and expanded 21st-century facilities. A key achievement of this proposal is to bring as much private space as possible into public use."
Bill Yarr, chief executive of the RUAS, added: "For a number of years we have been looking at ways to bring our facilities up to the highest international standards. To do this, we have looked outside Belfast and are currently assessing our options. This proposed scheme, subject to our members' approval, would give us the generally preferred option of staying in Belfast and providing superb new facilities to satisfy our agricultural objectives, exhibitions and broadly-based community responsibilities in the 21st century.
"The proposed scheme also would relieve the pressure on local residents, through innovative park-and-ride schemes, a pedestrian footbridge to Balmoral train halt and a multi-storey car park on site. On balance, we believe this scheme could provide an innovative solution that allows all interested parties to win, instead of piece-meal development that could see Balmoral Golf Club and the RUAS land developed separately with serious consequences for the area."
Dunloe Ewart made an unsolicited offer for the golf club last year, offering £33 million cash or an alternative of £22 million in cash and a commitment to construct a new, top-level course on the outskirts of the city.
Residential site prices have spiralled in Belfast in recent years. A site of just over half-an-acre in the nearby Malone Road area recently sold for more than £600,000.
Sites for apartment developments in good residential areas are fetching well over £1 million.
Northern Ireland has had the highest residential price growth in the UK outside London in recent years with an estimated 12.4 per cent jump in the last quarter of last year. It is estimated that parts of the residential market in Northern Ireland have seen prices double in the last four-and-a-half years.
