Cut price: city carpark back on the market for €4 million

A city centre carpark site – on which planning permission exists for an office, retail and residential development – has come on the market for €4 million.

That is less than half of the €10m price paid by its current owners a decade ago.

Developers Hugh Heskin and Pat O’Grady bought the Market Street carpark in 2004, with plans for a major city centre regeneration scheme.

The site – which measures just under one acre – has been placed on the market, with a four-year carpark management agreement in place.

There are 86 parking spaces, and according to selling agents DNG Maxwell, Heaslip & Leonard, the income after costs is €310,000 per annum.

Earlier this year, Galway City Council granted the developers an Extension of Duration on the life of the planning permission for an 83,000 square foot development.

They said they were unable to secure finance when permission was initially granted in May 2009, but expected it could be completed by late 2018.

Planners granted an extension of the permission until June 2019, saying: “It is considered that the proposal would not result in a loss of residential amenities or adversely affect the character of the area and would be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”

The development permitted includes two blocks overlooking a pedestrianised street, giving access from Market Street into Bowling Green, with a civic square at the centre of the site.

Block A ranges from four storeys in height fronting onto Market Street and a single storey onto Bowling Green. There would be retail accommodation in the basement, ground and first floors, with offices on the second and third floor, and 4 two-bed apartments on the first, second and third floors towards the Bowling Green end of the site.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.