West Cork's luscious Liss Ard Estate, bolt-hole of the stars and Star Wars, finds US buyers for c €3.5m
Liss Ard Estate Skibbereen
A WEST CORK estate, once bought on behalf of the Swiss government as a safe Cold War times bolthole in case of nuclear attacks, has been sold 60 years later for c €3.5 million, during the teeth of a global pandemic.
Apart from a rock and roll hall of fame guest list down the years, the exceptionally beautiful Liss Ard estate also accommodated much of the cast of the most recent Star Wars installments, when filming was taking place in West Cork and at Skellig Michael.
New US-based buyers Colin Best and Michael Johnston have just closed an unconfirmed c €3.5 million purchase of the Liss Ard Estate, on the edge of Skibbereen via local estate agent Maeve McCarthy and will continue to run the near-coastal estate with two period houses as a boutique hospitality venue, hoping to re-open in May….Covid-19 restrictions permitting.
Apart from being a super-private estate on 163 acres, with 30 acre lake and 25 bedrooms across two period buildings, Liss Ard is home to a world-acclaimed ‘Sky Garden’ sculptural/landscaping installation done by US artist James Turrell, and also hosted a series of rock concerts, where legendary artists like Nick Cave and Patti Smithy have performed.
Among the other artists and guests reportedly associated with Liss Ard have been Lou Reed, the Gallagher brothers from Oasis, Van Morrison and U2’s Bono.
It’s a very strong sale price for a niche hospitality venue, but represents just about half of the price sought back in 2016, just before the Brexit vote, when first put up for sale with a €7.5 million price hope by its Swiss owners, the Stern family who have had it for 25 years.
The price was later reduced to €5 million by joint agents Maeve McCarthy of Charles P McCarthy, and Sherry FitzGerald Country before selling during January’s third coronavirus lockdown for a lesser, unconfirmed sum.
Despite its several years on the market, Liss Ard’s latest owners’ interest in it only emerged in August 2020, between Ireland’s two pandemic lockdowns, and they managed to visit, and swiftly wrapped up a deal.
“The inquiry came in to us by e-mail via our website: it just goes to show you should never ignore any inquiry. It came when we had interest from two other parties, one as a private estate the other for continuing commercial use,” successful selling agent Ms McCarthy said over the weekend after ownership finally transferred.
While unable to comment on the price paid, and after a year in which West Cork performed extraordinarily well as a ‘safe haven’ location for overseas buyers, she added: ”this is a great news story for Skibbereen and West Cork, a real vote of confidence in the West Cork hospitality sector."
Liss Ard has officially been bought by St. Dominic Properties, a real estate development company and will be managed by Destinations, “a hospitality company specializing in creating authentic and memorable travel experiences.”
Destinations founders’, US West Coast-based Colin Best and Michael Johnston said “Liss Ard was a case of love at first sight. It is a legacy estate in one of the most beautiful areas in the world. We had long been attracted to West Cork for its natural beauty, rich history, and culinary excellence. Renovations and upgrades to the guest experience will commence immediately, with a planned reopening in May. We look forward to welcoming the next generation of local and international guests to Liss Ard.”
Vendor Timo Stern of the Stern family, who also have high-end hospitality ventures in Portugal, said they were “ very happy to have found in Destinations a company that will continue the tradition of making the beautiful estate of Liss Ard available for tourism purposes and as such, to provide employment to the local community and enhance West Cork as a quality tourism destination.”.
Co-purchaser Michael Johnston was in Skibbereen in recent days after Mr Best’s return to the United States, starting immediate refurb work on the Georgian and Victorian pairing of properties which reportedly had a good trading year with weddings etc in the past year, and the current management team headed up by Aidan Shannon and staff are being kept on.
Dating to the 1850s, and associated for many years with the O’Donovan Clan, the Liss Ard Estate has served as a manor and boutique hotel, wellness centre and private retreat, with its ‘Irish Sky Garden’ designed by world-renowned James Turrell open to visitors.
It had famously been associated with a mix of international owners, and back at the end of the Cold War era was acquired by a Swiss spymaster, Colonel Albert Bachmann for his government, in the event of a Soviet invasion or nuclear drift coming over the Alps to Switzerland.
It’s also reported that Col Bachman had proposed vaults for Swiss gold reserves. Colonel ‘Bert’ Bachman died in retirement in Co Cork in 2011, when a UK newspaper obituary described him as “Switzerland’s colourful but controversial spymaster, who single-handedly made his country’s intelligence service a laughing stock.”
With Liss Ard’s vendors, and buyers, both expressing delight at the multi-million euro transaction, estate agents’ fees and an ongoing exclusive hospitality venue for West Cork set to step up a gear, it seems there’s no-one laughing now.... except all the way to the bank.
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