Site potential “excites" new Killykeen complex owners

Seamus Enright 

The new owners of the Killykeen-based holiday complex say they are “excited” about the prospect of developing what they hope will be the first of a series of major site investments nationwide in the coming years.

Olivia Hutchinson of Silvertown Developments Ltd, purchased the 74-acre Killykeen site with colleague JP Ledwidge, working through UK-based CABÜ, an off-shoot of Cowley Timber & Partners, for a sale price understood to be close to the recently revised guide price of €750,000.
As part of the deal, the duo had to convince the seller, national forestry management agency Coillte that they were committed to investing in the former outdoor retreat. They did that by putting together a €4 million package. They aim to reinstate the lapsed planning consent for additional holiday accommodation, as well as a new spa, amenity buildings, and chill out spaces.
It's expected the works will be carried out on a phased basis over a three-year period, with an initial opening date for new visitors earmarked for Easter 2018.
“It has been run down for a long time but we look forward to the challenge of transforming it into something the county can be proud of to have on their doorstep again,” Ms Hutchinson told The Anglo-Celt.
Their CABÜ business has a portfolio of popular cabin hideaways across the UK. Their Killykeen offer was chosen from at least six confirmed bidders, including one from a local consortium, based on their commitment to invest significantly in the site.
Ms Hutchinson explains that she and Mr Ledwidge have been exploring sites in the UK and Ireland for “quite some time” but Killykeen’s vast potential and keen price drew them to it.
“We're both Irish anyway, myself from the North and my partner [JP] is from the south. So we've been looking at sites in the UK and Ireland. We are looking at a couple of other sites as well with [Coillte] so hopefully it's going to be a longer relationship than just the one site. We're trying to put a couple of other things together, so we'll see how this goes first.”

Resurgence

Set across 1.7 kilometre of Lough Oughter shoreline, the sale of the Killykeen complex falls in with the recent resurgence in popularity of holiday villages in forest parks, after UK-based Center Parcs sought to develop a holiday village and activity park near Ballymahon, Co Longford.
Initially developed in the late-80s as a showcase for the potential of Irish timber, Ms Hutchinson and her team intend to upgrade and add to the existing facilities at Killykeen including the dilapidated equestrian centre and boathouse with its 10 boat berths.
“We're coming here with a plan. We're all geared up and ready to go,” says Ms Hutchinson determinedly. “We're in the process of appointing an architect, so we're going to crack on straight away with it.
'Our aim is to try and open next year, if we can, we're not hanging about. We have a plan. We now have the site and we're excited about putting that all to work.”
She adds: “There is a lot of work to do, we're aware of that. But the 28 cabins there already are all architecturally designed. They're quirky, they're great log cabins and they'll all be refurbished as part of this.
“I think we've got something great here. But... to bring it back to its best we have to create a retreat that will bring people to it. It will have to be an offer special enough to bring people up the road. Its location is ideal for business from the North and the South, so with that in mind, we want to offer something special. A unique experience,” she told the Celt.