Of the seven latest housing developments in Co Kildare, four are located in Naas, with 196 new properties being developed in the town, compared to 121 in the rest of the county.
Naas has grown as a commuter town for Dublin but also as a hub for industry, due to its location and infrastructure. Even the translation of its name, Place of Assembly, gives an historical indication of the importance of the town since the second century. It was the chief southern outpost of the Pale in 1494, and parliament was held in the town on numerous occasions in the 15th century.
The announcement of Kerry Group’s new facility and 900 new jobs to the town broke the back of the recession. Even in 2011, the unemployment rate in Naas was at 15 per cent compared to the national average of 19 per cent, and the largest employment sector was industry and trade.
Great transport links, albeit in need of upgrading, allow more than 5,000 people to commute daily, according to the 2011 census.
Gerry Prendergast, a shareholder in Osberstown Developments, who in 2006 purchased a 417-acre site which was to become Millennium Park for €312 million (the highest price paid for land at the time), says the reason for locating it outside Naas was, "The land was sitting on the prime route that serves Cork, Limerick and the south west to Dublin, it has an infrastructure second to none, and all the west, south and south-east are served by a rail system that connects to Naas."
Speculation
While the speculation by Osberstown Developments did not translate to accumulation, as the park is now for sale for €35 million, Prendergast says that sales in the park amounted to €47.8 million and rents achieved €16.2 million, so the loss of equity is more in the region of €46 million.
The vision of the company was to provide 8,000 jobs and 3,000 houses, which Prendergast feels is achievable with the right nurturing.
“It’s about creating a work-life balance for people and linking infrastructure to economic development, but also about providing schools and housing for families,” he says. “In the recession it was about bums on seats – money being earned is the only thing that corrects an economy – our prime focus was to secure tenants”
The legacy of Osberstown Developments means there are currently 2,225 people employed at the park, which he says is now at 98 per cent capacity compared with its darkest days of 40 per cent.
Kerry Group
The location of Kerry Group's new facility at Millennium Park supports Prendergast's original plans for the site; he also cites the links to Dublin airport via the M50.
The €100 million development by the group, besides providing 900 jobs, will have a huge impact on the local economy and already this growth is evident in the number of new housing schemes.
The major setback for Naas at present is a bottleneck, which has now moved out along the N7 since the recent upgrade of Newlands Cross. As well as a planned M7 interchange for Millennium Park, for which permission was granted in November 2014, and which is awaiting funding, “we need another 10-12km of motorway here,” says Prendergast.
Naas, in 1413, under a charter from King Henry V, collected tolls at the entrances when this country town was thriving; 600 years later, on a much larger scale, the same story can be told.
