The former Limerick racecourse is for sale at €12 million through joint agents Savills and Cushman & Wakefield.
Located about 1.5km from the city centre, it extends to 47.1 hectares (116.5 acres), has mixed-use zoning and is earmarked for a substantial 700-unit residential scheme.
Under the Rebuilding Ireland initiative the site was identified as being capable of accommodating a major urban housing development and, to fast-track the delivery of housing units, it has been allocated €4.93 million in infrastructural aid to assist in upgrading roads and services.
The site – off Dock Road/South Circular Road – already has a road which provides access to Limerick Greyhound Stadium. It is level throughout and services were upgraded in 2007.
To the northeast is the Alandale residential development which has a direct link to the Mary Immaculate College campus which caters for a student population of about 5,000.
The agents suggest the lands could accommodate a large residential development, offices and student accommodation.
Limerick Racecourse operated from 1869 but closed in 1999. It hosted events connected with the visit of former US president John F Kennedy to Ireland in 1963 and Pope John Paul II said Mass at the venue for about 400,000 people in 1979. John Treacy also won a gold medal when the racecourse hosted the World Cross-Country championships in March 1979.
In 2005, the former racecourse was the focus of a €250 million plan for a 700-house and apartment development alongside a new village with pub, cafe, restaurant, shops, medical centre and creche. However, this never got off the ground.
Racing in Limerick continues at the new racecourse in Greenmount, Patrickswell, which opened in October 2001 and was the first purpose-built racecourse in Ireland in 50 years.
