EXCLUSIVE: Sale of Killykeen complex 'imminent'
A deal for the 28-log cabin holiday village at Killykeen is close to being secured, with at least one potential buyer understood to be an operator rivaling that of family holiday giants Centre Parcs, The Anglo-Celt can reveal.
- 74 acre Lough Oughter to fetch €700k+
It’s understood that up to six parties have registered firm interest in buying the 74-acre complex with its 1.7 kilometre Lough Oughter lakeshore.
At least one of those groups, meanwhile, have tabled a bid just short of the recently revised guide price of €750,000.
Complete with equestrian centre and a selection of leisure facilities, the complex was listed for sale by joint agents CBRE and Crotty Auctioneers a little over a year ago at a price of €1 million. While well below asking prices agreed in 2007 and 2009 at €4.75m and €3.5m respectively, the price reduction has ignited fresh interest in the dated lakeside holiday village, bringing several possible buyers to the table.
“The price reduction has certainly sparked strong interest in the Killykeen site,” confirmed auctioneer Don Crotty, who added that its sale could be concluded as early as next month.
“The sale is imminent, I can say that. There is significant interest,” he told The Anglo-Celt.
Forming part of the larger 240 ha forest park managed by Coillte, the national forestry company has not invested significantly in Killykeen for some time, though it has liaised with Cavan County Council to explore ways of enhancing existing recreation facilities.
The sale would represent a major development for the forestry site, which was one of a number of locations previously examined by UK-based Center Parcs, before opting instead to invest more than €230m in developing a holiday village and activity park near Ballymahon, Co Longford.
Among the sites also studied by Centre Parcs was the Farnham Estate Golf and Spa resort, which sold in mid-2016 with a guide price of €26m.
Bolstered
Any deal to buy Killykeen could see the investment bolstered further still by plans to have the forest park established as a main stopping point on a Waterways Ireland-led initiative to develop the River Erne upstream from Belturbet as a registered 'Blueway'.
It comes as Waterways Ireland are working with the Department for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs with the view to exploring further tourism potential for the region.
The Killykeen holiday village and the forestry school in Avondale were established in the late 1980s to showcase the potential for Irish timber and had operated at a reasonable level of financial success until the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2002.
Its imminent sale represents a return in popularity by tourists to holiday villages in forest parks.