Nama is forcing the sale of the profitable Fota Island Resort which was developed by the Fleming Group

THE FOTA Island Resort, which covers 500 of the 700 acres on Fota Island near Cork city and includes two golf courses, a five-star hotel and 59 lodges, is to be offered for sale on the international market early in the new year.

The disposal is to be handled by PwC’s Billy O’Riordan who was appointed receiver to the property company following the transfer to Nama of around €1 billion in loans taken out by the owners, the Fleming Group.

The Cork-based developer ran into financial difficulties over a partially built residential, office and retail scheme at Sandyford, Co Dublin, which was launched just as the property market collapsed. Only two of the four blocks planned for the Rockbrook development opposite the Luas station were completed. About 190 of the 345 apartments were sold and most of the remainder have since been let. German discounter Lidl has rented one of the ground floor shops and the remainder are still unoccupied.

The problems for the Fleming Group in Sandyford began when it paid a formidable €245 million for two adjoining sites of 11.3 acres at the end of 2005. Most of this – €165 million – went towards the purchase of the 7.7-acre former Allegro site which had changed hands only eight years earlier for a mere £12.5 million (about €15.875 million).

Fleming Group’s highly ambitious scheme for the site was to have included about 680 apartments, a 14-storey office block (now partially built) and extensive shopping facilities. Nama will, in due course, be looking for another developer to pick up the pieces. The Fleming Group also invested heavily in development land in Cork and Waterford.

Marcus Magnier of Colliers International will not be announcing a guide price for the world-class Cork island resort until early next year but it is thought likely that he will be seeking well in excess of €20 million for it. He suggested yesterday that the sale would test the strength of the quality hotel and leisure market because Fota was a particularly well-run trading entity and was turning in a healthy profit.

That is hardly surprising as Fota has a broad appeal, being particularly popular as a family retreat but equally sought after by business, wedding, leisure and corporate guests. It is a regular choice of national and international sports people and teams as a training venue before big sporting events and as a recuperation and relaxation centre afterwards. The popularity of the resort is greatly helped by the fact that it shares the island with Fota Wildlife Park, one of Ireland’s top 10 visitor attractions with over 390,000 visitors this year. The adjoining Fota House and its famous arboretum and gardens are also major attractions all year round.

The golfing facilities were originally developed in 1993 by the London Edinburgh Trust and sold on six years later to the late Dr Tim O’Mahony’s Killeen Investments which also owned Mount Juliet Country Club in Co Kilkenny. The Cork estate was sold in 2004 to the Fleming Group which later spent a small fortune on redesigning and enlarging the golf facilities – adding a nine-hole course – and developing the high-quality hotel. The Irish Open was staged on the Deerpark course in 2001 and 2002 while the European Tour’s Seniors Irish Open followed in 2006. The 27-hole layout provides a choice of three challenging courses.

The five-year-old hotel has 123 bedrooms and eight private penthouse suites, all with superb views of the woodlands or golf courses. The suites are particularly lavish with a separate livingroom and private terrace balconies.

There is a series of meeting and conference rooms to accommodate groups of eight to 60 and a main function room which can comfortably host 280 for dinner or 400 theatre-style. The golf clubhouse can accommodate a further 220 diners.

One of the great attractions at Fota is its famous spa, a vast 1,600sq m (17,222sq ft) facility which includes a walking river, thermal suites, affusion showers, flotation baths, swimming pools and a fully equipped gym.

Outside there are training grounds the size of Croke Park, built on an old sand quarry to provide excellent drainage and to appeal to English Premiership soccer teams, GAA inter-county groups and Heineken Cup rugby squads. Recent visitors have included the Irish ladies senior soccer team; Cork, Tipperary and Kerry GAA teams; and Birmingham City football team.

The stylish golf clubhouse has been created from a series of stone farm buildings and overlooks the 18th green of the Deerpark course. There is also a golf academy with two large teaching rooms equipped with the latest high-tech video systems and computerised analysis as well as an indoor putting green.

Another important contributor to Fota’s success has been its residential lodges which have been in demand by visitors to the estate. Most of the 59 houses have been in constant use while a small number need minor finishing work. The Fleming Group built 120 houses on the estate and sold 61 of them.

Cork-based Cohalan Downing is the joint selling agent for the estate.