Government sole bidder on €11 million Dowth Hall estate purchase with millions more to be spent over the next few years.
By Conor O’Carroll.
The government was the sole bidder on the Dowth Hall estate, which was purchased for €11 million last year, documents released to Village Magazine reveal.
The estate in County Meath, including an 18th-century Georgian residence, a Victorian manor and associated lands, was put up for sale in April 2023 across three separate lots, with a guide price of €10 million set for the entire 550-acre estate. This price included a nominal discount of €100,000 in comparison to purchasing each lot separately.
A valuation report was prepared by estate agent Lisney Sotheby’s Int. on behalf of the Office of Public Works (OPW), who were liaising with the Department of Housing on the purchase.
It stated that the market value of the entire estate fell within the range of €9,475,000 – €10,345,000, however, this report did not include the potential additional cost owing to the government being classified as a special purchaser.
A special purchaser, as defined by the RICS Valuation Global Standards, is a buyer “for whom a particular asset has a special value because of advantages arising from its ownership that would not be available to other buyers in a market.”
Once the site is opened to the public, the government expects almost €5.3 million in income will be earned from visits to the site over the first decade
This means that special purchasers often pay more than the market value of the property due to their “over-riding motivation or business need for the asset”.
In the case of Dowth Hall, the estate is of particular value to the State as it and its surrounding lands are situated within a UNESCO World Heritage Site, forming part of the pre-historic Brù na Bòinne site.
The business case report for the purchase presented to the Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien TD, and released under Freedom of Information to non-profit Right To Know, stated that the purchase of the Dowth estate was a “compelling” and “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to protect one of the “most historic and quite literally magical elements of Irish culture” from any “inappropriate development”.
According to the Negotiated Purchase Price report released to Village Magazine, no other offers were made for the entire estate during the negotiations with the government, though an asking price offer of €2.85 million was made for the Victorian-era house, Netterville Manor.
However, the agent advised that the vendor’s preference was to sell the entire estate as a single lot, strengthening the government’s position.
An updated business case released to Village indicates that the cost for the first five years will be in the region of €23 million, according to a quantity survey conducted by the OPW
Initially, an offer of €8 million was discussed verbally with the agent, though this was swiftly rejected with the government told: “an offer in excess of the guide [was required] to remove the property from the market and progress to sale agreed”.
Internal emails show that officials at the OPW agreed to submit a formal offer “below or close to bottom end of market value” in June. An offer of €9 million was later submitted, however, again this was rejected, with the agent stating “it falls well short of market value and value of what is available specifically to the state agencies”.
The rejection was also accompanied by a counter-offer of €12 million, with the addition of all equipment & machinery and all rights and ownership of the intellectual property related to the research platform at Dowth.
These were valued at €1.2 million and €4.3 million respectively by the vendor. They also imposed a completion timeline of ten weeks.
At this point, though the Department of Housing was interested in purchasing the additions included in the counter-offer, officials at the OPW urged caution and restraint in making another offer in quick succession as no other offers for the entire estate had been made.
The imposed timeline was also considered to be “unrealistic”.
The market value of the entire estate fell within the range of €9,475,000 – €10,345,000, however, this report did not include the potential additional cost owing to the government being classified as a special purchaser
The equipment & machinery offered by the vendors included the furniture and artefacts from the properties, though it was determined that “none of the contents have any provenance to the house and most seem to need complete restoration”.
“We don’t want to be in a situation where we agree to take on items that we have no use for and subsequently incur costs for the storage and/or repair, restoration of same”, an internal OPW email stated.
A complete list of the additional items shared with the OPW included the deer fencing surrounding the property, CCTV system and vandal-proof toilets, as well as farm machinery and lab equipment. However, the OPW did not accept that some of these items represented additional value, with internal discussions concluding that many of the items “should be included in a normal sale”.
In early July, the government returned with an improved offer of €11 million. This offer included the additional equipment & machinery and intellectual property rights.
The furniture and artefacts were not of interest to the government, given their limited connection to property and state of disrepair, and so were not included in the offer. However, a pair of Irish rococo-style gilt mirrors and a pair of Victorian marble-topped pier tables valued at €25,000 were requested.
This offer was proposed as the government’s “best and final offer” and just over 24 hours later, it was accepted by the vendors. The final price represents between a 6% and 16% increase over the brokerage advice received, though as the Negotiated Purchase Price report notes, the advice did not include the value of the “unique archaeological heritage of the estate, recent discoveries or consider the benefit of State ownership of a UNESCO Heritage site”.
The Property Advisory Services department at the OPW also stated that the proposed purchase price was “reasonable”.
However, the purchase price is expected to be just a fraction of the total cost to the government. An updated business case released to Village indicates that the cost for the first five years will be in the region of €23 million, according to a quantity survey conducted by the OPW.
This will secure the site and allow for initial public entrance.
€2 million is expected to be spent on staffing and security, as well as archaeological and conservation work over the next few years, while some operating costs are also expected to be incurred by the OPW for managing the site.
Once the site is opened to the public, the government expects almost €5.3 million in income will be earned from visits to the site over the first decade.
