Tipperary hotel has sporting pedigree

A Golden Vale setting by Limerick Junction, and the Tipperary Racecourse, plus 114 acres of land with a Des Smyth-designed championship golf course, will add a certain sporting frisson to the bids for the 40-bed Ballykisteen Hotel and Golf Resort in Tipperary.

The 2005-developed complex including pool and spa is being sold for receiver Kieran Wallace of KPMG with a €2m plus guide price quoted by agent John Ryan of CBRE.

Mr Ryan says it’s in rich farming land on the busy N24 Limerick-Waterford road, and gets a good spread of golf, leisure and hotel business from a broad catchment, as well as functions and weddings.

Set by Limerick Junction, opposite the Tipperary Racecourse venue which hosts a number of flat races and national hunt races annually on its mile and two-furlong track, it’s a mile and a half from the rail line junction, four miles from Tipperary town, a 30 minute drive from Limerick city, and an hour from Cork city.

The property for sale includes the 40-bed modern hotel but not the c 45 holiday lodges also developed as part of a larger investment at Ballykisteen back in the mid 2000s. The adjacent lodges were sold to investors, and are not on the market, it’s pointed out, but guests there do add to the level of business at the hotel golf course and spa.

Described as a purpose-built modern four-star, 40 bedroom hotel, Ballykisteen has banqueting facilities for up to 260, and is due to cater for 80 weddings this year, and has a proven record of such functions, say CBRE, noting it also has business rooms for up to 40, and has been voted in the Top 10 hotels in Ireland for family breaks.

The 18-hole parkland golf course, designed by Des Smyth, takes up the bulk of the 46 hectare (114 acre) and is billed as “imaginatively designed,” with views of the Galtees and Golden Vale countryside.

Bedrooms and suites (many with golf course views) are on the upper floors of the complex, which also has a boardroom style meeting room,Junction One Bar, and the Junction One Restaurant has terracing with golf course views. Also accessed from the hotel is the leisure centre with overhead spa and gym, deck level pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, etc.

John Ryan of CBRE says Ballykisteen started trading in 2005, and thanks to proximity to the M8 gets functions, leisure break business and golfers on the championship Des Smyth course, from an extensive catchment, and passing traffic.

It also does packages for race event weekends, with the next National Hunt and flat racing due on Thursday next: perhaps would-be buyers might include a day at the races with walking the grounds and golf course, at Ballykisteen next week? Sporting wagers suggest that its €2m guide price will be surpassed, given the scale, amount of land and elements in the overall package.

Details: CBRE 01-6185500.