Chinese holiday venture falls through on Sherkin island

Sherkin House hotel and marina has returned to the market with a €1.5 million price guide

Sherkin House Hotel is for sale again, after being sold two years ago to a company with Chinese business interests.

PLANS for a West Cork island marine holiday venture aimed at Chinese tourists have been scuttled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The West Cork Sherkin House hotel and marina, which include the ruins of a 15th century defensive castle called the Fort of the Ships, sold two years ago to a company with Chinese business interests.

But  now, it has returned to the market with a €1.5 million price guide, about the same sum it last sold at.

The purpose-built 21-bed hotel property on Sherkin Island near Baltimore, on over two acres, includes a 30-berth marina and a number of the rooms were upgraded last year by its most recent purchasers.

Maeve McCarthy of Charles P McCarthy Estate Agents in Skibbereen has been instructed to sell the island-based hotel and associated marina interest once more after plans for a sailing school linked to it were washed up by the impact of the Coronavirus.

The intended Chinese target market was reported on two year ago when the hotel last sold in a low-key campaign and also back then was guided at €1.5m.

It last traded in 2019, with a number of Tripadvisor reviews from a mostly Irish guest clientele. A company check associates it with directors Xiaoxia Lin, and Michael O'Shea who is associated with a number of other companies, including one Crosshaven Holidays Ltd.

Ms McCarthy says “the hotel was purchased to develop a Chinese audience for sailing holidays. Unfortunately with COVID-19 and travel restrictions, this is no longer possible."

The marina on Sherkin.

Originally called Island House, Sherkin House was developed by islanders the Murphy family back in 2001, and comprises 17,000 sq ft, with function room.

Planning was granted in 2008 for conversion to apartments plus bar.

The scenic island, with beaches,  has 50 year-round inhabitants, and  has a regular hourly public ferry service to Baltimore.

The property's  2.2 acres includes the ruins of Dún na Long (Fort of Ships), a 15th century O’Driscoll clan castle which burned down in 1537, the same century that the smallpox  pandemic  killed millions in the Americas and Carribbean.

Details: Charles P McCarthy 028-21533