Sanda island sold as bolthole for European tycoon Michi Meier
The TIMES, March 27th 2010, Moira Kerr, Melanie Reid
Sanda has been a tourist destination, with its award-winning Byron Darnton tavernand six self-catering cottagesA remote Scottish mini-archipelago, with just one resident and its own pub, has been sold for a rumoured £2.5 million to a European property developer.
Sanda, along with its tiny neighbours Sheep Island and Glunimore Island, lies off the tip of the Mull of Kintyre, 13 miles south of Campbeltown and 20 miles east of Ballycastle in Northern Ireland.Dick Gannon, 59, who has owned the islands for 20 years, confirmed the sale yesterday. He said: “The island is sold, close to the asking price, to a customer sent over by Hamburg-based selling agents Vladi Private islands, but I can’t say any more about the sale than that.“The new owner is taking over at the end of April.
It’s a bit of a mystery what he is going to do but I am hoping it will go on as it is now, as a business, as a tourist destination.”The buyer is Michi Meier, who is thought to come either from Belgium or Switzerland but now lives in Sweden. He is a property developer who is understood to have bought the 312-acre island, initially at least, for his own personal bolthole.Terry Smith, who owns farmland on the Mull of Kintyre at the point nearest to Sanda, said that Mr Meier had visited him last week. Mr Smith said: “I met the fellow and I got the impression he was not going to run it as a pub. I think he is basically wanting it private.“What he wants to do is spend six months on the island doing it up.
One of the agents that came to see me said this fellow won’t have anything that isn’t 101 per cent brilliant. I think all the buildings [on Sanda] are going to be done up to millionaire’s standard, for his use.“He has said to me that he is doing the place up. He wants to take building materials over there.”Mr Smith added: “He wanted to buy a piece of my land but I said I might lease him a piece. He wants to use my land to land an RIB [rigid inflatable boat] and to put a boathouse, down by the shore here, for storing sheep feed and other goods.“He has put it in writing that he intends no commercial use, it’s for private use only, for the purpose of forwarding goods to Sanda. “He is a businessman. He is Swiss-born but he now lives just outside Stockholm.
He said they have a smallholding there with some pet sheep.”Sanda was home to little more than a few derelict buildings when the Gannons bought the islands for £250,000 in 1990. Mr Gannon spent years building the island into a unique tourism destination, renovating the buildings into the award-winning Byron Darnton tavern and six self-catering cottages.The Gannons, who marketed Sanda as “a piece of paradise” are selling up because of their decision to separate. Mrs Gannon has always lived at the family home in Campbeltown while her husband was the island’s only listed resident.Sheep Island, around 35 acres, is inhabited only by a flock of 60 Soay sheep and Glunimore Island is a small lump of rock.John Coleman, a partner with Knight Frank, who are organising the sale, confirmed that the new owners would take over at the end of next month.
“The new owner is taking over at the end of April. It’s a bit of a mystery what he is going to do but I am hoping it will go on as it is now, as a business, as a tourist destination.”The buyer is Michi Meier, who is thought to come either from Belgium or Switzerland but now lives in Sweden. He is a property developer who is understood to have bought the 312-acre island, initially at least, for his.Mr Meier could not be contacted yesterday but he has been speaking to a number of business people in Kintyre about services for the island.Donald Kelly, the Kintyre councillor, said: “I would sincerely hope that Sanda will stay as a tourism venue and that the community will be able to work constructively with the new owner to the benefit of Kintyre.”Sanda, which has been for sale since August 2008, was originally priced at £3.2 million but dropped to offers around £2.5 million.
The island’s 350 breeding ewes are included in the sale, along with free range chickens. Princess Anne is said to have sailed in specially to buy their eggs.Farhad Vladi, president of Vladi Private Islands, an agency that sells islands all around the world, told The Times last night that a contract between the two parties had been signed but not yet settled.Zurück zum Pressearchiv>>Dick Gannon, 59, who has owned the islands for 20 years, confirmed the sale yesterday. He said: “The island is sold, close to the asking price, to a customer sent over by Hamburg-based selling agents Vladi Private islands, but I can’t say any more about the sale than that.
