The site of the former Carnagh Country House Hotel at Keady has been sold.
And it has changed hands for just £22,000!
The property went under the hammer at an auction – consisting of 40 lots from all parts of the UK – by Bidx1.
And it took 75 minutes for the deal to be done.
Two interested parties bid for the site – on the Castleblaney Road – with the opening offer of £10,000.
Over the course of the exchanges, 13 bids were made, with the sale concluded at £22,000 and the site going to an unnamed buyer.
The site – now cleared – extends to five acres.
Planning approval was given back in October 2009 for a hotel development.
The DoE had given the go-ahead for a 10-bed development, which was to have included restaurant and conferencing facilities.
But the hotel never materialised and the approval has since expired.
At one stage, the site was on the market for in excess of £120,000.
But as Armagh I revealed in August 2015, it was being readvertised for sale at that time as a building site, with the cost having dropped to less than half, sitting at £60,000.
When it was put on the market, the agents flagged up the previous approval for the hotel and said renewed consent might be “looked upon favourably” for a bed and breakfast development by any buyer.
The entire site has now sold for just over a third of the previously advertised sale price.
Carnagh Country House was extensively damaged in a fire some years back and was to close altogether.
It was once a very popular port of call for locals and visitors alike, set in stunning scenery with a pond situated on site too.
The new owner’s future intentions are not yet known, but the sale will give hope that something will materialise to give the area a welcome boost.
