Kinsale’s Ballinacurra House in final stages of sale — price exceeds €4m
Ballinacurra House had been caught up in a legal wrangle with a financial fund, Mars Capital. who acquired a loan from Pepper and who put it back for sale with a €4m price guide. File photo
Sale terms for Kinsale’s private estate, Ballinacurra House which once hosted the late Michael Jackson and his children for a three-week hideaway spell have been agreed, it’s been confirmed.
The 18th century waterside estate with 15 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and on 25 acres had been on the market since 2021, initially with a €6.35m price tag.
It later ended up caught in a legal wrangle with a financial fund, Mars Capital. who acquired a loan from Pepper and who put it back for sale with a €4m price guide.
The private owners Des and Lisa McGahan, who developed the upscale hospitality and wedding venue business in the early 2000s subsequently got back control of the sale process of Ballinacurra last summer after the High Court was told the owners had reached an agreement with lender Mars Capital Finance and receivers Crowe Ireland via mediation.
News that a sale at Ballinacurra is now in process came via a Linkedin post last week from an off-market negotiator Henry Bilko who said “we at Vacation Marketing are pleased to announce that we introduced both parties to each other regarding Sale Agreed of this off-market hospitality property.
"We wish both side much success in the future.”
When contacted, owner Des McGahan confirmed the historic property on the fringes of Kinsale was now sale agreed and in legals, with “no red flags” showing and he hopes for a successful conclusion.
The sale includes the McGahans’ own private family home built alongside Ballincacurra House, whose grounds run down to a small bridge on the tidal section of the River Bandon, a mile or two upriver of Kinsale town.
He declined to identify the intending purchaser other than to say “he is Cork-based, and a businessman” with prior experience in the hospitality sector.
While there had been some initial interest in Ballinacurra just as a substantial private home on extensive grounds (one US-based purchaser, James Berwind, has paid over €15m for three private Kinsale properties in the past two years) it’s understood the buyer in this instance intends to continue to run it along similar lines to the McGahans.
The selling price isn’t as yet disclosed but “is substantially more than the €4m the receiver put it up for sale at”, said Mr McGahan. It’s likely to have sold in the €4.5m to €5m league, other property sources suggest.
A key attraction for uber-wealthy guests has been the privacy the grounds afford, yet right on the doorstep of Kinsale and its Old Head Golf Course, where helicopter arrivals are par for the course.
Celebrity guests have had their identities guarded, but the presence of the late entertainer Michael Jackson and his children for a three-week spell in 2007 was eventually leaked to the media.
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