Property magnate shells out €13m for stud farm
And it isn’t just the name that has the whiff of stardom.
The director of Douglas Newman Good, (now rebranded as DNG, with a nationwide spread of franchisees), is a big player in property development at home and in Britain.
This was close to the guide price of €13 million given by the agents for the 18th century house and lands, which is currently run as a stud farm.
The anticipated removal of stallion tax reliefs may have had something to do with the decision to sell.
Either way, Mr Newman shouldn’t be too affected by that, as he has surfed the property wave to good effect, and is — for example — due a considerable windfall from the sale of MyHome.ie, of which he is a major shareholder.
He went head to head with one other bidder at the auction of Ballintaggart Stud last month, according to Pat O’Hagan of HOK, but the 165-acre stud farm was withdrawn at €13.2 million.
Used as a stud farm by the vendors, who keep brood mares on the land, the property has excellent grassland, says David Ashmore of HOK Country, and is also used in part for tillage.
The vendors will retain 100 acres of the estate for their own use.
The guide price given for the property prior to sale was €13 million, which by today’s galloping standards, was an accurate valuation by O’Hagan and Ashmore of HOK.
The pair also sold Bessborough Farm in Balrath, Co Meath, for €5.3 million, which was purchased by a farmer who had sold land for development.
That farm came with 135 acres, a yard and lots of road frontage, and made the equivalent of just under €40,000 per acre.
Ballintaggart has an 18th century mansion house, three cottages, gardens and grounds and extensive paddocks and woodlands.
