Cullen offering value after rough property apprenticeship

TV ENTREPRENEUR Bill Cullen and partner Jackie Lavin are having their own rough apprenticeship in the Irish property game.

Having been fired with enthusiasm to develop 24 apartments in a scheme called The Reserve within Killarney’s National Park by their Muckross Park Hotel and Cloisers spa, the market downturn sees their Glencullen Developments company offering the hotel-backed and serviced five-star apartment product at prices from €225,000, for a standard 800 sq ft two-bed. Their Smart apartments, (similarly sized but with all electronic wizardry) are €295,000.

With total sales likely to come in around the €6-7m mark, it is a long cry from expectations when the development behind the couples’s Muckross hotel was first conceived several years ago. Now, they say they’ve a premium Killarney product, at a competitive price.