110-acre holding at a knockdown price
The property has sweeping mountain views, it bounds Reen Beach, and comes with a derelict (but salvageable) vernacular farmhouse, and full planning permission for a 120-bed hotel and leisure centre, as well as all that land.
The way agent Tom Spillane of Tom Spillane and Co reckons it, the land includes about 50 acres of marsh, and the rest would be “marginal”, with some fair grazing thrown in for good measure.
On that basis he calculates the land at forestry prices, hence the overall, per acre guide of €1,300 per acre.
It’s the kind of property that could be described not just as snipe country, but the sort of place where the snipe wear wellingtons.
But that doesn’t do justice to one of the most outstanding, picturesque and beautiful locations in west Kerry, going for a song.
So what’s the catch?
Tom Spillane admits that planing for an hotel would be a hard sell today — and the exoskeleton of the original Waterville Beach Hotel at Reenroe presents a problem.
This derelict structure would have to be bulldozed to return the land to its pristine state — which is an admittance that the planning is now worthless.
A new owner is likely to be a local who can see the point in spending the price of an expensive site, in the hope of getting one or two houses on the land, says Spillane — who adds that putting the money into land might be a good way to bank at the moment.
The vendors are overseas, and the property is to be sold, the agent says, so he’s open to offers in the region of the guide price.
There is potential to restore the original farmhouse, and for those with the view that returning the land to a state of nature is in order, the cost of bulldozing the former hotel structure and disposing of the remains must be factored into the equation.
The property at Reenroe is two miles from Waterville on the Ring of Kerry road, across the Inny River from Waterville Golf Course.
