Former hotel site pitched to retailers

A retail development future beckons for the site of the former John Barleycorn hotel in Cork’s Glanmire.

Now formally on the market, the 5.4 acres is being pitched to supermarket and discount retailers such as Tesco, Lidl and Aldi.

According to agents Seán Healy and Frank Ryan of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, acting jointly with Casey and Kingston, Glanmire as a fast-growing community and ‘dormitory town’ is under shopped for its considerable, 10,000-plus population.

While a price guide isn’t given, sources say a sale in the €2.5m to €3m region is likely, given the value of what would be developed on it. A supermarket/discount shop site alone could have a value of €2m with planning and the extra acreage would suit for other uses.

The hotel site had been bought by developer/investor Joe O’Donovan, with Rebel Bar Group input, back around 2004 for a then-reported c €5m. Repeatedly vandalised, it was subsequently destroyed by fire in 2006 in the midst of a mixed-use controversial planing application. It is zoned for Town Centre uses.

Details: DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, 021-4275454; Casey and Kingston, 021 4271127