Paradise found then lost for big earners
Simon Cowell and his other celebrity would-be neighbours have had to put dreams of a Barbados hideaway on ice after the delay of a luxury villa project
Sunday June 14 2009
TULLOW Oil chief Aidan Heavey is one of several multi-millionaires who have been caught up in a delayed luxury villa development scheme on the Caribbean island of Barbados.
Along with Eddie Jordan, Simon Cowell and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Heavey has bought a villa at Clearwater Bay, on the west coast of the balmy island.
Cowell and Lloyd-Webber each bought two of the exclusive homes off-plan, while the two Irishmen each bought just one. Heavey declined to reveal any further information about his purchase, or how much he paid upfront.
However, prices for the villas are understood to be as high as €34m for the biggest -- a palatial 18,000 sq ft property, with interior design features such as wood from coconut trees on the island shaped by local craftsmen, a gym, cinema, bar and swimming pool.
British hotel entrepreneurs Michael Pemberton and Robin Paterson's firm Cinnamon 88 and joint venture partners the Four Seasons hotel group are behind the delayed development, which is pitched as a rival to the Sandy Lane Resort that is something of a hideaway for Irish owners Dermot Desmond and John Magnier.
According to reports doing the rounds, they arranged a $250m banking facility with HBOS to help finance the development.
The total cost of the Barbados project is said to be €330m, but when combined with a second luxury development they planned for the neighbouring island of Grenada, the projected costs spiral to €1bn.
If Heavey and his celebrity neighbours do eventually take up residence in the tropical paradise, they'll be able to avail themselves of the private plane to ferry guests between the two islands that is apparently included in that billion-euro budget.
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ANYONE in the market for a holiday home beside a golf course or in the grounds of a country club here is somewhat spoilt for choice at the moment.
At the top end, Tyrconnell House at the K Club has seen its price plummet by €1.95m. It still appears on some agents' books at €4.8m, but Oliver Lynch auctioneers have it listed at €2.85m.
Part of the Ladycastle development on the Smurfit course, the four-bed, five-bath pile covers 3,245 sq ft and features a handcrafted kitchen with granite worktops and Italian marble floors which continue into the dining room and hallway.
Along with 20 at the K Club, over 30 more such homes are on the market at the moment, ranging from a three-bed semi at the Lee Valley Golf and Country Club in Ovens, Co Cork, for €250,000, to others in Wexford, Roscommon, several clubs in Co Kerry, one in Meath, two at Castleknock in Dublin, and one at Doonbeg in Co Clare.
In Wicklow, there are several apartments still for sale at Druids Glen, while beleaguered developer McInerney is advertising a new development of nine terraced houses there, which are priced at around €600,000.
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MEANWHILE, if the Victorian pile that is no 3 Ailesbury Road sells for its full asking price, it will have shot up in value by €6.8m, or about 316 per cent in just under 10 years.
With 4,000 sq ft of space, it's on the market for a staggering €8.95m, or available to rent for €12,000 a month. In 1999, it sold at auction for €2.15m.
