City development site with river frontage for sale
Developers will be keenly interested in this central 0.49-acre plot in Cork city, located at Camden Quay, opposite Cork Opera House and Crawford Art Gallery.
Rising skylines and taller buildings in Cork and along its quays could open the way for a very substantial development in the very heart of the city, opposite Cork Opera House and Crawford Art Gallery, just one minute's walk from St Patrick's Bridge.
Urban sites like this really don't get more central.
Just put up for sale is Camden Place, a period building and classical Venetian facade, in front of a site just shy of half an acre, and where planning permission was previously granted for an office development of 65,000 sq ft.
New applications are likely to obtain permission for larger-scale development in line with the scale of constructions being achieved on the city’s docklands.
However, the profile property's appointed selling agents, Cushman & Wakefield, now suggest there is scope on this largely-cleared 0.49-acre plot, with its positive planning history, for a higher density and/or altered design and other mixed or alternative occupiers.
Subject to planning permission, they say: “The site is suited to a wide variety of city centre uses including office, leisure, PRS (Build to Rent,) student accommodation or hotel use.” Previous uses of the original building – which dates to 1885 - include temporary use as a courthouse, arts centre and as a garden centre in previous decades.
Cushman & Wakefield stress the primacy and profile of the river-fronting site, with the building south-facing overlooking a channel of the River Lee, by the Christy Ring Bridge, Emmet Place and Opera Lane.
They note its “immediate access to amenities, retail, Central Business District (CBD), transport links and universities,” adding “it's a rare opportunity to acquire a significant city centre development site, with river frontage, on the open market.”
A highly accessible site, with a visually engaging facade, it's a corner-set property, with frontage to Camden Quay, Pine Street and Coburg Street, with the latter allowing for good opportunities for vehicular and pedestrian access.
The majority of the site is ready to go, subject to planning, notes Peter O’Flynn, and any demolition and site clearance costs have been removed allowing for quicker construction timelines and a significant cost saving for any proposed development.
Zoning in the Cork City Development Plan 2015 – 2021 is “City Centre Commercial Core Area,” which allows for a wide mix of uses, with an objective of supporting the retention and expansion of commercial, cultural, leisure and residential uses.
"Given the current requirement for development across all use classes and rising levels of the city skyline at present, future planning applications for the site are expected to achieve higher density and scale than what was previously granted permission,” state Cushman & Wakefield, selling the 0.49-acre opportunity centre city site by Private Treaty.
At a guide price of €4m, the agents believe it will attract interest from many different sectors of the market.
- , Managing Director, or , Surveyor.
- Cushman & Wakefield
- 6 Lapps Quay
- Cork
- 021 4275454
- peter.oflynn@cushwake.ie
- siobhan.young@cushwake.ie
- www.cushmanwakefield.com/ireland
