Linking up with developer would ‘maximise value’ of City Hall site

A report commissioned by Galway City Council recommended the local authority partner with a developer to redevelop its City Hall site at College Road once it moved to Mervue.

The draft “Report on City Hall Accommodation” dated February 28, 2021, and marked “strictly confidential”, recommended the Council purchase offices at Crown Square to relocate its headquarters.

In order to “maximise value” of the 3.5-acre site at College Road, it suggested the Council could then follow the model used by Irish Rail on their Ceannt Station lands.

“There is considerable precedent in Galway and throughout other areas whereby a local authority would develop the site in conjunction with a prequalified developer in accordance with a development plan which could be set out by Galway City Council in the first instance,” it said.

“Galway City Council would set out the broad framework for the plan, seek proposals from potential developers (Joint Venture Partners, etc) and retain ownership of the property until such times as it is completed in accordance with the terms of the development proposal,” it said.

The Council could licence a developer to develop the property as per the plan. This would give the Council options to maximise its value, including “final ownership of a portion of the development (cultural, commercial or residential) and provides a long-term investment opportunity at the early stages of a large development which also provides a large planning-fees contributor and rates generator into the future”, the report stated.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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