UCC buying Cork church and Sunday's Well development site

The sale of a church building and an adjacent development site in Cork’s Sunday’s Well is understood to be progressing between UCC and the Vincentian order.

The former St Vincent’s church, built in the 1850s, went up for sale in May of last year, along with a 1.15-acre development site above the North Mall, with a combined €1.5m price guide, or €750,000 per individual lot, via estate agents Lisney.

UCC has since emerged as the successful purchaser of both, understood to be for less than €1m all-in. No official confirmation has yet come from UCC, and selling agent Edward Hanafin today declined to confirm the news.

However, the third-level institution was always likely to be in the final heel of the hunt, given the building’s strategic setting.

Included in the offer was the church, a protected structure on a half acre, with an 18-space car park, and, on the city side, a further 1.15-acre, south-facing overgrown development site (with disused basketball court) almost under Sunday’s Well Road, with 88m frontage and zoned for residential.

UCC’s future uses are as yet unstated, but on market launch a year ago, Lisneys suggested potential for a high-rise or student accommodation development, primarily going down from road level to the UCC North Mall campus beneath.