By the time the proposed 228-bed luxury hotel is built at Carton Demesne in Maynooth, in the spring of 2004, the economy will have bounced back. This is the belief of Conor Mallaghan, whose family has owned the 1,100 acre estate since 1977.
"We are hopeful that the world will be a better place by then," he says. "The K Club will host the Ryder Cup which will put an international focus on Co Kildare in 2005."
While it looks almost certain that US company Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide - the same company that operates The Westin - will operate the five-star hotel, contracts have not yet been finalised.
The Mallaghans - who sold Powerscreen sand and gravel company in 1986 - received a 10-year permission in 1992 to transform the Palladian mansion into a £50 million (€63.49m) hotel, golf and leisure resort.
At the moment, Mallaghan says they are focused on developing the two 18-hole championship golf courses - at a combined cost of £10 million(€12.7m) - and the restoration of Carton House.
The parkland course designed by international golfer Mark O'Meara is complete and will open in the spring after a final "grow-in" phase.
The second Colin Montgomery-designed inland links course with pot bunkers and rolling hills is due to open in spring 2003.
Membership will cost £25,000 (€31,743) and members will be entitled to play on both courses.
While the demesne itself dates back to when the FitzGerald family became Earls of Kildare in 1315, the existing house was built in 1739 by Richard Castle and later remodelled and extended in 1815.
Planning permission for the venture was granted on condition that Carton House be restored - a job that will cost between £10 to 12 million (€12.7m-15.24m).
Work on the exterior stonework will finish next month after which the windows, roof and chimney stack will be tackled, all under the supervision of conservation architects David Slattery and Associates. Internal restoration and conversion work is due to begin in the new year.
There will also be a residential element to the development of 165 houses of between 1,400 sq ft and 4,200 sq ft set in the woodland around the Mark O'Meara golf course.
It will not be a traditional housing estate, says Mallaghan.
"The planning authorities did not want the Carton estate to be subdivided, so the residential element will be open plan."
The five-star hotel hotel will be built out of sight of Carton House, which is to be converted into 12 luxury suites.
Mallaghan says they chose Starwood, which operates 650 hotels in more than 70 countries and controls the Westin chain, the Sheraton and the Caesar because it has a track record of "sympathetically transforming old houses into hotels".
"We chose them after seeing what they did with a number of old buildings in Europe, like Tunberry in Scotland."
He says that the initial protest from conservationists has dissipated somewhat, "now that people see the restoration taking place and the golf course being developed."
"There are some people out there who'd prefer to see the state buy it, but they bought Farmleigh, so this is a more sensible and viable approach, rather than letting Carton decay and disappear.
"A large scale leisure resort was the way forward, especially as it is in a good commercial location and will create 300 local jobs."
