Cork sites in city and suburbs

Two Cork sites, one in the city and the other 14km to the south, come fresh to the market this week with strong development potential. The city centre site at Washington Street is quoting more than €5.75 million through Savills. It stands on 0.8 acres and contains an 1880s-built warehouse-type building that has traded successfully as a furniture shop for more than 40 years.

“This premises offers superb development potential,” says Peter O’Meara of Savills. “Not only does the building come under the city centre Commercial Core Area, thereby most uses are permitted, it also falls within the Living City Tax Initiative, a tax incentive designed to provide relief for qualifying expenditure incurred on either residential or specific commercial refurbishment and/or conversion work.”

The building is rectangular in shape with part two-storey 10-bay block with pitched roof, and part three-storey three-bay block with hipped roof. An impressive red brick facade with limestone columns and openings on the ground floor level give it a distinctive look.

Its city centre location gives easy access to Cork's retail and business district. Nearby occupiers include UCC, the Presentation Brothers College, Mercy Hospital and the River Lee Hotel. Both the Mardyke Sports Complex and Fitzpatrick's Park are within easy reach.

In addition, the site is close to the planned new event centre – where work is expected to start shortly – at the former Beamish & Crawford site.

So a new hotel on the Washington Street site might be a possibility, as could a mixed-use scheme of shops with residential overhead given that the Maxol site across the road has permission for 50 apartments and sold recently for €3.5 million.

Meanwhile, Savills is quoting €2.75 million for the Passage West dockyard and six terraced houses to the south of Cork city.

It extends to 7.8 acres and is zoned Objective X-01 under the Carrigaline Electoral Area Local Area Plan.

“This covers everything from mixed convenience and comparison retail, to office, leisure/marina, service, civic and residential uses, making the prospects for this site limitless,” says Peter O’Meara.

Built in 1832, the dock was considered a major work of engineering for that era and contributed to the rise of Cork’s commercial trade. Its main business now is the export of animal feed and scrap metal.

The site has a large yard with ample space for HGVs and four industrial buildings with a total floor area of about 4,645sq m (50,000sq ft). These steel frame and metal deck wall structures are used for storage by the tenant, Haulbowline Industries, on a three-year lease with a passing rent of €110,000.

There is also a collection of smaller, older office buildings and six period terraced houses. All of these overlook the water and range in size from 93sq m to 116sq m (1,000 to 1,250sq ft). The houses are vacant and in need of repair.

Passage West is a popular residential area with a range of sports and outdoor pursuits clubs. Recent developments of housing estates have brought a suburban character to the area.