A Northern Ireland council has paid almost £25m for a city centre office block — so that it can knock it down and build a replacement.
The £24.7m deal — said to be the “most significant office development in Belfast for ten years” — comes after years of delay and indecision over the fate of the 1970s built Clarendon House. In May Belfast City Council granted itself planning permission to demolish the Adelaide Street property and replace it with a 100,000 sq ft office block.
In a statement the authority stressed the development, in partnership with construction firm McAleer & Rushe, will be funded at “no cost to the ratepayer by efficiencies achieved from rationalising the council’s existing office estate and selling a number of surplus redundant buildings”.
Declan Boyle is chairman of the council’s strategic policy and resources committee. “This is further significant investment in the city centre by Belfast City Council, following on from our £150m investment programme which was launched in 2012,” he explained.
He said, not only would the scheme generate hundreds of construction jobs, but when complete and partly occupied by the council would “maximise efficiencies by clustering our staff and services within close proximity”.
Cookstown-based McAleer and Rushe acquired Clarendon House, close to Belfast City Hall and the Cecil Ward Building on Linenhall Street, last year. It immediately filed a Todd Architects-designed application to demolish the existing building and develop a 10-storey replacement office block. That proposal was modified to nine floors and eventually passed earlier this year.
Stephen Surphlis of McAleer & Rushe said: “We are looking forward to working with Belfast City Council to deliver this high quality office development … This deal comes at time of rising demand for Grade A office stock within the Belfast and hopefully will act as a catalyst for other office projects in the city.”
Earlier this month, hotel group Hastings paid £6.5m for the 23-storey Windsor House on Bedford Street — one of the tallest buildings in Ireland — and announced plans to convert it to a hotel.
And yesterday the 46,764 sq ft headquarters of the Council for the Curriculum Examinations & Assessment in Belfast’s Clarendon Dock was put on the market with £6m price tag.
The sale of the La Salle Investment Management-owned building in Belfast’s Clarendon Dock is being handled by agents CBRE and is described as being in a “prime riverside location in an area currently attracting a large amount of foreign direct investment interest”.
CBRE director, Robert Ditty, said he expected “significant interest” from local, national and international investors. “The Belfast office sector is currently extremely buoyant, with buyers seeking to acquire office assets offering the potential to capitalise on both rental and capital growth,” he added.
Previous Post
Stenprop completes Flagship West End acquisition
