Developer Robert Butler’s 16,500 sq ft mansion in the grounds of Adare Manor, Limerick is up for sale through Sherry Fitzgerald for €2.9m (just €175 psf, the advertisement on DAFT.ie is here). Known as “Winterwood” the house is set on its own plot of 2.8 acres within the wider 840-acre hotel and golf resort; it boasts eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms and five reception rooms and a feature double staircase. Doesn’t look too shabby at all on the inside but a personal opinion is that its external architecture is typically bland – why is it that we can’t do high-end architecture in this country?
The Irish Independent reports on the sale today and says that it was worth €12m at the height of the boom, and today’s asking price represents a 76% discount.
The Irish Independent recently reported that companies associated with Robert Butler were now dealing with NAMA. Apparently loans from these companies transferred to NAMA in February 2011 and would therefore have been amongst the later tranches. A note to the accounts of Robert Butler Holdings said “NAMA has agreed to initially provide financial support to the company’s operation, in very specific terms, for a three-month period commencing May 20, 2011”
I see the advertisement on DAFT.ie is 22 days old. NAMA has said that as part of its approach to agreeing business plans with developers, the developers will be required to bring unencumbered assets to the table. It is not known if the sale of “Winterwood” is at the behest of NAMA.
Robert Butler has properties in the Shannon Free Zone and National Technology Park. He is possibly most associated today with what the Irish Independent claims is a €15m development on Henry Street in Limerick.
You might be tempted to compare the sale of the “Winterwood” mansion in Adare with the sale of Updown Court, “Britains Most Expensive House” to which NAMA appointed receivers this week. Set on 58 acres, the 50,000-sq ft, 24-bedroom pile has five swimming pools, stables, tennis and squash courts, a bowling alley, a helipad and garage space for eight cars. The property is in Surrey, about 30 miles from central London. The property has its own website here and its owner, developer Leslie Allen-Vercoe had been trying to flog it for six years before NAMA appointed CB Richard Ellis as receivers. It is not known how much NAMA want for the property but reporting has suggested that NAMA paid just GBP 20m (€23m) for the loan underpinning it, and given NAMA’s core objective of recouping its purchase price there is reason to suppose the price will be in that region.
UPDATE: 3rd March 2012. The property has now reportedly been sold for €1.9m equivalent to €115 psf. According to David Raleigh at the Irish Times, the identity of the buyer has not been disclosed.
UPDATE: 5th March 2012. The sale of the above property was first reported by Anne Sheridan at the Limerick Leader on Friday last 2nd March, 2012.
NAMA Wine Lake 
McMasion if ever I saw one…
Wouldn’t take it as a present :-)
Was it ever lived in?
You spend a fortune to construct a house dripping mock from the pores and then kit it out with chimneys like that. It’s like replacing a Chevvies V12 engine with something from a Nissan Micra
@ NWL
“why is it that we can’t do high-end architecture in this country?”
Because the British pulled out 90 years ago.
All the classical buildings, Heuston Station, GPO, to mention but a few where built by the British.
Curiouser and curiouser!
The appearance is one thing, but the point really is why do Irish people obsess about golf and resorts? it never stops raining and its miserable! Why did we think that these resorts would have lasting value? Another example of a lack of research and basic maths maybe?
@GL, Why do we obsess? Well we have the greenest, most watered courses in the world, often set amidst even greener woods and forests. Sure we get rain but we also get, not to put too romantic a point on it, skies as changeable and fascinating as the best art exhibition in the world. The rain, the greenery and the skies are all connected of course but I can see why people from all over the world flock here for golf.
I see the development of golf here as a big positive. We get to celebrate the success of our own sportsmen and women, which is rare enough. We attract tourists that spend and frequently like the place so much that they invest elsewhere in the economy, either themselves directly or they influence investment decisions, particularly at Multi National Companies (MNCs).
Not sure of employment figures in the sector but between grounds maintenance, hospitality, administration and promotion, even modest clubs provide decent employment.
With the recession, membership fees have been done away with at most clubs that I know, and green fees are reduced. So you end up playing some of the best courses in the world for a pittance relatively.
Yes Portugal and Florida might have sunnier weather for parts of the year (it doesn’t rain every day here and we sometimes get a decent summer), but the temperatures here are more pleasant during the summer generally than the sweltering heat in some other countries.
As for the relatively recent development of residential property on land attached to courses and also the development of hotels and “resorts”, that is a natural consequence of growth it seems across the globe. And if golf is a passion, what could be better than a house adjacent to a course, set amidst the greenery with like-minded people for neighbours?