€3.25M price tag on Main Street!
The heart of Cavan Town is up for sale with a guide price of €3,250,000, writes Thomas Lyons. Property company Knight Frank are marketing a 2.42-acre block in the town centre, in one lot by private treaty.
Speaking exclusively to The Anglo-Celt, Ross Fogarty, the agent handling the sale, gave the background to the site: “The vendor is an Elliotts' related company. We have been working on it for the last six months. It is a big chunk of land in Cavan.”
He said that the site has been the subject of expressions of interest: “Some parties are aware that it was coming to the market but it is going to be openly marketed. The vendor was approached directly, so we have no details of who approached them.
“I would be surprised that there would not be local interest given that the parties would be familiar with the product available, what could be done with it and what is required. The intention is to sell the site as a single unit.”
Back in 2005, the Celt reported that P Elliott & Co Ltd completed the purchase of a number of properties on Main Street from Tractamotors Ltd. That secured a 0.97 hectare block of property. The company flagged a development plan that would rejuvenate the areas of Market Square and Townhall Street in the county town.
It was anticipated that the redevelopment would modernise the town’s streetscape and, coupled with the proposed Abbeylands project, feature a pedestrian walkway along the river, and transform the vista of Cavan town. However when the recession hit in 2008, the Elliotts’ Cavan town plan was shelved.
The holding now on the market consists of 10 separate buildings and large area of undeveloped property forming a significant block of real estate in the town centre. Chamber of Commerce President Eddie Coleman, who himself is a tenant of one of the properties at Cavan Gifts, expressed his hopes for the site: “I hope that the shops tenants are given an opportunity to buy out their own premises.”
Sandra Farrell, the proprietor of Salon Tibo on Main St said that the sale could present a great opportunity for the town: “We are very happy to be part of the Main Street in Cavan and would love someone to come along and develop the town centre. We could do with a bigger premises to develop beauty and hair in Cavan,” she said.
The beauty specialist said that she hopes that there will be more communications between the property managers and the tenants in the future.
An employee in one of the business premises due to come under the hammer said that there had been a number of visits by people surveying the properties in the last six months.
At present the portfolio is predominantly commercial, with residential elements on the upper floors. The properties include eight retail units, eight apartments, two public houses, offices, a school, a former B&B, a car park, a house and a development site. The properties are located on Main Street, Thomas Ashe Street and Farnham Street. The total rent roll is around €357,000 per annum and tenants include Boots, CCVEC, Cavan County Council and the HSE.
Mr Fogarty said that the site is subject to the Cavan Development Plan 2014 to 2020: “It is zoned “Town Core” and a “Master Plan Area”. The zoning is to encourage and consolidate new buildings to establish a vibrant town core. Uses compatible with a town centre are actively encouraged in these areas, so there would be a requirement for mixed use including civic space.”
The Cavan County Council planning department were not in a position to make a comment on the sale and efforts to contact the specific vendor were unsuccessful.