Williamson’s Mall in Dundalk to be sold at auction

Williamson’s Mall in Dundalk will be sold at auction later this month for a reserve price of between €670,000 and €730,000.

The retail units, which front onto Francis Street and the Ramparts, will go under the hammer at the Allsop auction in the RDS on April 21^st and will also include the sale of 23 and 8 Francis Street.

The property is arranged across two land holdings, the first main holding is Williamson’s Mall, which comprises a series of retail buildings arranged over ground and part first floors together with a surface car park

The initial retail frontage leads on to a series of warehouse units surrounding the perimeter of the car park. The units have been configured to provide retail accommodation. Incorporated within the built area is 8 Francis Street which provides 10 derelict flats.

The overall site benefits from approximately 27m of frontage to Francis Street together with a further approximate 73m of frontage to Ramparts Lane.

Williamson’s Mall

The second holding comprises a retail building (23 Francis Street) arranged over ground and first floors, situated to the northern side of the road directly opposite to Williamson’s Mall. The total site area is approximately 0.66 hectares (1.64 acres) with the selling agents reporting that the Mall is currently generating €152,000 a year from 20 of its 24 retail units.

Conditional planning permission is also in place until December 2019 for the construction of a mixed use development on the site, known as Cathedral Walk. This was to comprise of two buildings, ranging in height from two to six storeys with a new pedestrian link and civic plaza connecting from the Ramparts Road via the pedestrian link to Francis Street.

Cathedral Walk was envisaged by Mall owners Ampezzano Ltd (now in receivership) as having retail, office and residential accommodation. They also proposed to reopen the Ramparts River over the length of the Ramparts Road fronting the development, with pedestrian and vehicular bridges across the river.

The development was to include a multi storey car park, valet area, service yard, retail units, cafe/bars, hot food take away, off license, amusement arcade, taxi/hackney office, bookmakers, offices, financial / professional services, restaurants and 43 apartments.

Meanwhile the Francis Street portion of the development was to be a five storey retail and office building with c.3,500 sq ft of retail space at ground and first floor level, with c.10,000sq ft of office space above.

The original plan was seen as important in linking the Marshes Shopping Centre with the rest of the town but a lack of funding meant that the project never proceeded beyond the planning stages.

Other local properties set to under the hammer at this month’s Allsop auction include a three bed terraced house in Doolargy Avenue (reserve €20,000), a two bed terraced house in Yorke Street (reserve €30,000) and land at Edentubber, Ravensdale (reserve €15,000). Two four bed homes at Riverview Crescent, Castlebellingham, will also be sold for reserves of between €125,000 and €130,000.

An artist’s impression of Cathedral Walk