Prime Limerick land sold for €6m, bought back for €450k and now goes sale agreed at €4m

THE OWNERS of land at Attyflin, Patrickswell have sold it for millions of euros for a second time, the Limerick Leader has learned.

Mayor John Moran struck a deal last week to purchase 70 acres of prime land through his mayoral funds for Limerick City and County Council. 

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The property on the edge of Patrickswell went sale agreed for a figure in the region of €4m or around €57,000 per acre.

The Leader can reveal that during the Celtic Tiger, 44 of the 70 acres were sold for €6m. It is understood that a nursing home and retirement village were planned for the land. Due to the economic crash this never materialised and it returned to agricultural land. 

The 44 acres were put up for auction by GVM’s Tom Crosse in 2013. It is believed it was sold on the instructions of a receiver in a consensual sale in tandem with a bank.

It was  bought back at auction by the same family for €455,000 - a gross profit of just under €5.5 million. The auction price works out at €10,340 an acre -  13 times less than was paid during the boom.

The Leader contacted Mr Crosse, who it is understood advises the council on land transactions, about the second sale of the property in Attyflin but he declined to comment. 

However, back in 2013, Mr Crosse said he found it hard to understand why some weren’t putting a “hope value” on choice pieces of land like Attyflin.

“This recession will end and property will return to some sort of normality at some stage. It must mean that kind of land will come back into money again,” said Mr Crosse in 2013.

Fast forward 12 years and a park and ride facility for Ryder Cup 2027 in Adare Manor is one of a number of proposals for the use of the land.

Around 21.5 acres are zoned enterprise and employment with the remaining 48.6 acres zoned for agricultural use. 

The lands are immediately adjacent to Patrickswell Enterprise Centre, M20 and N21 road network and the Limerick-Foynes railway. It was being guided at €4,725,000 by the selling agents.

Mayor Moran’s purchase of the “key strategic site” has been welcomed by local Fianna Fail representatives - Cllr Fergus Kilcoyne and Minister of State Niall Collins.

Cllr Kilcoyne said when this property went on the open market he immediately contacted Mayor Moran and viewed it together. 

“We discussed the merits of the council acquiring the lands and using it to address the many competing demands and requirements for new housing, business, a new train station, a park and ride facility, enterprise and community facilities including a large scale playground in Patrickswell,” said Cllr Kilcoyne.

He continued: “I want to see the development of affordable housing for local people and couples. We need to provide a mix of housing options including the purchase of affordable new build houses and also the option for local first time intended home owners to acquire a serviced site from the Council upon which to build a home.”

Mr Collins said the purchase by Mayor Moran demonstrates huge foresight and ambition for Patrickswell which “I fully share and support”. 

“The opportunity now to further develop Patrickswell must be planned and managed so as to achieve the best outcome for the local community. I am calling for an ambitious ‘masterplan’ to be developed to ensure the sustainable development of the site to meet the local community needs and demands,” said Mr Collins.

He said he will ensure that a proper local public consultation will take place whereby local people and community groups will be centrally involved in making this “masterplan”. 

Mayor Moran said  the 70 acres will be used to build a whole new neighbourhood-led expansion of the village, which will soon have to be  called Patrickswell “town”. 

Mayor Moran said this could accommodate 1,000-1,500 new private and public homes for purchase and rent, as well as amenities for all of the village.

“This is a bold investment of circa €4 million that will represent a substantial portion of the Mayoral Fund budget for 2025. 

“However, it reflects what I have said from before I was elected and since I have taken office: housing isn’t just a priority – it is the priority. We need to be ambitious, to believe in our future and to do things differently to resolve the current crisis,” said Mayor Moran.