Seed capital of €800,000 needed for West Cork garden nursery site

Former Shanahans Nurseries 2.4 acre site with commercial zoning is located just above the N71

Shanahans Nursery Nurseries Clonakilty Hodnett Forde

Will houses replace hostas at a West Cork business plot, up for sale after 75 years rooted to its local Clonality community?

Just put up for sale as spring bulbs break earth is Shanahans Nurseries, on 2.4 acres with commercial zoning just above the N71 on the town’s western fringe by Fernhill, and the local Michael Collins Gaelscoil.

The decision not to reopen for the 2024 growing and planting season after Christmas was announced in October by current owners Barry and Mary Shanahan, ending a multi-generational and green-fingered link with the location, saying they planned to retire.

The former nurseries is slightly elevated with south-facing views: the warm land that fostered their produce is now most likely to benefit home hunters, as redevelopment with residential uses the most likely outcome, selling agent Andy Donoghue of Hodnett Forde has indicated.

Within a 10-minute walk of the town centre, and on the town side of the award-winning Fernhill House Hotel and its landscaped grounds, it’s surrounded by existing developments and some upmarket niche estates.

“It’s within a well-established area of Clonakilty town. Neighbouring housing developments have matured into some of the most desirable in West Cork as seen from recent sales,” says Mr Donoghue, guiding the opportunity at circa €800,000.

He adds that “development sites of such unique prominence and potential are few and far between in Clonakilty. Added to this, the direct connectivity of mains services adjacent to the plot which make this property an exciting and rare opportunity.”

The Shanahan family’s decision to retire comes 12 years after the liquidation of the very extensive Hosfords Garden Centre, between Clonakilty and Bandon. The area is served now by centres in Bandon, at Lisavaird Co-op just west of Clonakilty, and at Skibbereen.

The sale of the long-established nursery business comes six months after the closure of the 1870s-founded Atkins hardware store in the West Cork town centre, on a 0.6-acre site along the bypass with old warehouse buildings, carrying €1m price guide and also offered for redevelopment.

• Meanwhile, agents Hodnett Forde also this month list a 15-acre field, in one block with three access points. It is fronted by more than a dozen detached houses along its length, and located on the other side of Clonakilty, off the road to Timoleague.

Gallanes land, Clonakilty.

• Although currently zoned agriculture and in stubble, it has services to hand and “offers exceptional potential”. The layout and location — 2km from the coastal community — “combined with the rapidly growing environs of Clonakilty town would surely deem this holding to be one of serious developmental potential in the not-too-distant future,” says Mr Donoghue.

Guide price is c €25,000 per acre, or c €375,000 as one block.

DETAILS: Hodnett Forde, 023 8833367