Return to seller: €3m land bought back for €215k
At the height of the boom in 2005, he sold his home on the outskirts of the city, and the 4.75 acres it stood on, for €3m.
He has now bought the same property back for a tidy €215,000.
Campbell said: “It’s actually unbelievable.”
He said he regrets, in a way, how things turned out, in that the business-people who bought the land from him originally were very honourable in their dealings but neither they nor he could envisage how things would turn out in the economy.
In the early 1970s, Campbell’s parents developed the Hi-Way bar and restaurant in Dooradoyle, next to Limerick University Hospital.
He and his brother Brian took over the business but sold it in recent years.
Campbell lived on a property he purchased in 1986 at Ballycummin, Raheen, on the main Patrickswell Rd.
A major roundabout was subsequently built near the site and a businessman bought the property for €3m eight years ago, with the intention of opening a car salesroom.
However, this never went ahead, due to the economic collapse.
And when the house and land came up at public auction, Campbell swooped on the bargain.
His sale-and-buyback deal works out as a gross profit of just under €2.8m in eight years. Campbell said that aside from grazing cattle on site, he has “no immediate plans”.
The property was sold at auction by GVM Auctioneer Tom Crosse.
Campbell said yesterday: “It is a very unique story. It just shows how the whole world has gone and, unfortunately, we all know what has happened in the eight years.
“We spent 20 very happy years there [in Ballycummin], we raised our family there. It was a lucky place for us — and not just selling it. We were very lucky in life there. I was lucky that it was for sale again and I was in a position to buy it. I have very fond memories. I’m delighted to have it back.”
He bought the house in 1986 and then the piece of land in 1992. When it was sold privately in 2005 a flagship car dealership was planned for the site.
The land remained idle until it was put up for sale by public auction on the instructions of Gearoid Costelloe, a liquidator at Grant Thornton.
After the sale eight years ago, Campbell moved home to nearby Mungret.
He said: “I’m just glad it didn’t end up a horrendous eyesore like some of the ghost estates.”
Crosse of GVM Auctioneers said: “The house, which is in need of repair, is worth around €100,000. It is an excellent location on the outskirts of the city and it may have some long-term potential.”
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