Beet that: former Mallow sugar beet lands could be a sweet development deal  - or solar farm

Some 143 acres next to Cork Racecourse is up for grabs in two lots

Bittersweet: Mallow's former sugar beet factory site, picture here in 1953, is now for sale with agents Lisney after the Greencore site is now cleared. 143 acres are being sold at 'Munster's Crossroads'

A MAJOR Mallow land sale in the offing will be bittersweet for the North Cork town and Munster hub — it’s the last major tranche of the former Irish Sugar factory, and new uses could include a solar farm, or mixed industrial/residential development.

The lands at Newberry, the former Irish Sugar factory, are for sale in two lots: Lot 1 with 133 acres, guided at €1.9m, and lot 2 with 12 acres guided at €300,000.

Mallow’s sugar factory was the last of four to close in 2006, after Carlow (2005), Thurles, and Tuam, and after the 1930s-founded State company CSE (Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann) was privatised and taken over by Greencore in 1991.

In the 1980s, over 200,000tons of white sugar was produced annually, involving up to 30,000 beet growers, with supplies of sugar beet dwindling to a still substantial 3,700 farmersby the time of the Mallow plant being shut down.

Alfred Navratil, factory manager in 1934 shows the beet/sugar process to Sean Lemass, Minister of Industry and Commerce

It controversially closed in 2006, following an EU directive on State supports, ending an 80-year link between the region’s agricultural and manufacturing sectors, and removing over 300 direct jobs, with compensation packages for workers and growers. A 2011 report by EU auditors later ruled the closure may not have even have been necessary.

Shortly after the plant’s closure, plans were briefly mooted for a 400-acre landbank controlled by Greencore for mixed development called Mallow West, but the economic crash shortly afterwards put paid to those overarching plans.

Coming for sale now for Irish Sugar Plc/Greencore with agents Lisney is a landbank of 143 acres next to Cork Racecourse, bounded in part by the River Blackwater, within a few kilometres of Mallow town and the N20 Cork/Limerick route.

Edward Hanafin and Johnny McKenna of Lisney say “it offers significant development potential,” noting “the majority of the buildings have been removed and extensive remediation works were carried out for the restoration of the lands”. It’s being offered via private treaty offered in two lots, with various zonings/future uses, divided by R619.

The larger lot 1 is 133 acres, is on the northern side of the R619 with frontage, and also has access to the R621, near the Newberry Industrial Estate and close to Quartertown Industrial Estate.

The majority is zoned for development, with 69 acres zoned industry/ enterprise, and a further 22 acres is zoned ‘existing residential/mixed residential’. This lot also includes four detached houses in poor condition, plus a security hut, office building, and stores. The balance of the lands are zoned ‘green infrastructure’, and includes forestry that was planted about 20 years ago around the time of the controversial closure.

Guide price for this 133-acre lot is €1.9m, or just over €14,000 per acre, which may be seen as very competitive.

Aerial view of Mallow sugar beet factory as it closed in 2006

The second lot is c 12 acres, on the southern side of the R619 road, with extensive frontage and it is zoned existing mixed general business/industrial uses. The Killarney to Mallow rail line forms the southern boundary: Back in the days of the annual ‘beet campaign’, raw beet arrived by rail and by road/truck, and after CSE diversified into lime manufacture at several in the 1950s quarries the State-controlled agribusiness, the company employed up to 300 hauliers.

Guide price for the smaller lot 2 is €300,000, or just under €25,000 per acre.

Served by road (a new Cork Limerick motorway is in the wings) and rail on the Cork-Dublin line, Mallow is often dubbed “Munster’s Crossroads”, with a current population in excess of 12,000 and the engineering and food processing sectors are a significant employer. Also, Dairygold has a major milk processing facility in the town, expanded five years ago with a €83.5m new plant.

“The property represents a superb development opportunity for a variety of potential uses including industrial and residential development, subject to planning permission. The property may also have potential for green energy uses such as a solar farm,” say Lisney.

Beet on the street

Solar farm construction is set for major growth in Cork, with up to 20 solar farm projects in the county alone, with Mallow already targeted by Bord Gáis linked company Amarenco, aiming to provide power to 80,000 Irish homes and with a solar farm due on-stream at Carrigaline later this year.

At present, solar contributes about 6% to national energy needs, outperformed currently by wind which generates c 20% of national supply. Coincidentally, after Mallow’s beet plant was shut down, calls had been made to turn it into a plant for biofuel manufacture.

• DETAILS: Lisney, 021-4275079.