New scheme launched in the Languedoc

Sunday Business Post - Property Section - March 30 2008
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Irish-French developer Garrigae Investissements has announced the launch of its latest scheme, the Chateau de la Redorte Estate & Spa, a 19th century Languedoc country home which is being turned into a luxury apartment hotel.

The chateau is being refurbished with the support of its current owner, the Comtesse Dominique d’Artois, whose family has owned the chateau for seven generations and who will continue to live in one wing of the property with her family.

The Chateau de la Redorte site dates from the 13th century and the current building was established in the early 1800s. The facade of the building will be retained during the refurbishment, and interior features such as marble and cast-iron staircase fixtures, timber ceilings and parquet tiles will all be retained, keeping an authentic feel to the development, according to Dubliner Karl O’Hanlon, director general of Garrigae.

‘‘All the architecture will be inspired by the existing buildings,” O’Hanlon said. ‘‘Everything that can be restored will be restored.”

The Chateau de La Redorte development will feature a total of 42 apartments. Four will be located on the top floors of the refurbished chateau, with 19 in each of two independent new buildings facing the existing chateau. Prices (including furniture) start from €258,000 for a 52 square metre one-bedroom apartment with a seven square metre terrace and rise to €352,000 for 70 square metre two-bedroom apartments with 18 square metre terraces.

The developers say they are keen to retain a link with the local community. The chateau, which sits right in the centre of its eponymous village, has historically been a focal point for the surrounding region, with sumptuous receptions and recitals for the area’s lords and ladies, while its gardens, vineyards and farmland provided employment to the local people, and food and wine to the surrounding towns.

O’Hanlon said the Comtesse would host occasional dinner parties in the chateau’s new restaurant, and the hotel would employ local people and serve local produce. ‘‘This is the real south of France, as opposed to glitzy Provence,” he said.



The Comtesse said she had decided to allow Garrigae to develop the chateau as she agreed with their plans for the property. ‘‘We are friendly with (Garrigae president) Miguel Espada’s family, which created abond of trust between us,” she said. ‘‘I like the style and the flavour of the project, particularly the integration with the local community. It is a way of keeping the family’s cultural and financial inheritance intact.”

Completion for the project is scheduled for summer 2010. The refurbished chateau will feature a bar, restaurant, games room and cinema on the ground floor, with salon, library, music room and kid’s club above. A new spa, reached via a converted 18th century tunnel, will feature indoor and outdoor hydrotherapy pools, hammam and sauna, and the raised gardens will have views of nearby villages and the Montagne Noir.

‘‘It will operate as a hotel with full restaurant and facilities,” said O’Hanlon. ‘‘There will be a really sociable atmosphere with a relaxed, informal, barefoot style.”

All of the properties are being sold through Garrigae’s sliding leaseback scheme, which makes use of French government incentives to avoid VAT on both the property purchase and rental returns.

Rental income is guaranteed for 20 years at 4.66 per cent per annum if owners do not use the property, or they can choose to take a smaller return and stay up to six months per year at their apartment or other Garrigae properties dotted around the Languedoc region.

These include Le Couvent d’He repian, a converted 17th century convent which is now a boutique hotel in the tiny Haute Languedoc village of He¤ re¤ pian; Le Domaine Des Pins, a scheme of 15 stone built villas in the Languedoc village of Durban; or the Les Jardins de Saint Benoit vineyard estate and spa in the Corbieres region.

The village of la Redorte has a number of restaurants, shops and banks within walking distance of the hotel. The picturesque Canal du Midi, with its canalside bistros, is 500 metres away, while the nearest beaches are a half hour drive away. La Redorte is a thirty minute drive from Carcassone airport, which is served by Ryanair from Dublin, Cork and Shannon, and a sixty-minute drive from Perpignan airport, which is served by Ryanair from Dublin.

LeHameau duTemple is another development that makes use of Languedoc’s historical and cultural legacy. Featuring 19 traditionally designed three or four-bedroom villas built from reclaimed stones and roof tiles, it is located in the Languedoc village of Garrigues Sainte Eulalie.

According to agents Chesterton International prices at Le Hameau du Temple start from €560,000 and the properties range in size from 110 to 190 square metres.

Independent property consultant Phillipa Pignat said the Languedoc-Roussillon region looks set to be popular with investors in 2008. Pignat pointed to figures released by the Association of the Notaires de France which showed that prices increased in 2007 by 15 per cent for resale houses, 18 per cent for resale apartments and 5 per cent for new build properties.

Pignat said the Languedoc, with its mix of cultural and historical sites ranging from Roman ruins at Nimes to colourful cobbled market towns such as Pezenas and Uze's, was attracting investors and holiday makers away from more established regions in southern France.

‘‘Foreign purchasers are now purchasing properties inland within an hour’s drive of the sea due to the charm of the villages, the beautiful landscape of rolling hills and vineyards and the affordable prices,” said Pignat.

‘‘While Provence suffers from the mistral and the French Riviera bears the high number of tourists and construction sites, the Languedoc appears more tranquil and more authentic.”

CONTACTS

For more information on the Chateau de la Redorte contact Douglas Newman Good International at dnginternational@dng.ie or 01-4912600.

For more information on Le Hameau du Temple contact Chesterton International on 1800-805634 or log onto www.chesterton-international.com.