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.

“We have had a couple of crisis years for property and the market is still very much down. There is always, however, room for value and having been in business for a long time, I can truly say that I never sold anything, be it car, property or otherwise, at this value. Given what’s in the package, the price is unbeatable and you would be looking at multiples of it in any other comparable tourist location worldwide,” said Mr Cullen.

A carrot is an offer of an annual week stay in Muckross Park Hotel and spa for two – an offer for which a would-be Cullen Apprentice could get a pat on the back.