Riverside facility on Coes Road up for sale

The former Riverside Industrial Facility on the Coes Road has been placed on the market for an undisclosed sum.

The property is on a 1.48 (3.66 acre) site, off the Inner Relief Road with estate agents Sherry FitzGerald Carroll saying it “presents a high redevelopment opportunity”.

The land is zoned for Employment and Mixed Use which allows for the following uses: Industrial/light industrial; offices ancillary to industrial; warehousing/wholesale warehousing; storage & distribution; car showrooms; motor sales outlets; car parks; heavy vehicle parks; petrol filling stations & services stations; recycling facilities and service industries.

Planning permission is in place to redevelop the building into retail warehousing.

For further details contact Sherry FitzGerald Carroll on 042 9332173 or visit www.sherryfitz.ie

Plans for 16 new homes on Newry Road rejected

The Newry Road in Dundalk

Plans to demolish a house on the Newry Road for 16 new homes have been rejected by Louth County Council.

Last month Bernadette Kavanagh applied for planning permission to demolish Highfield House.

In its place she hoped to construct a sheltered housing development consisting of four 2 bed units and four 1 bed units in a two storey block and eight 1 bed single storey semi-detached units.

As part of the application Ms Kavanagh also hoped to enlarge the existing entrance onto the public road and develop all ancillary site services.

However, the plans were rejected by the council on two counts – that it did not fit in with their development plan and that the demolition of Highfield House would also contravene with their policy of encouraging the appropriate reuse, renovation and rehabilitation of older buildings which are not listed but which have some architectural, historical or heritage merit.

Castletown Road site with planning for 40 apartments up for sale

A 2.5 acre site on the Castletown Road with full planning permission for five three storey residential buildings has gone on the market for an undisclosed sum.

The land has planning permission for 40 new dwellings in the five buildings comprising, two single bed units, 18 two bed units, 16 three bed units and 4 four bed units.

For further details contact East Coast Real Estate on 086 8322400.

Go ahead granted for revamp of Bishop’s Garage on Newry Road

Conditional planning permission has been granted for the revamp of one of Dundalk’s best known garages.

Bishop’s Garage on the Newry Road is well known for its location at the entrance/exit of the town.

Now Chevron (Ireland) Atlantic Ltd have been given the go ahead by Louth County Council for a huge revamp.

They have been given conditional planning permission to demolish all of the structures on site and to decommission and remove the underground fuel tanks.

Eamon Bishop confirmed to Talk of the Town in August that the planning application was in advance of plans to massively revamp the garage.

He said: “Demolition is leading way to a brand new station with far superior amenities.”

Bishop’s is best known for its Texaco filling station, Spar shop and exhaust service centre. It was also a Daewoo dealer for a period. The garage had been run since 1986 by Eamon Bishop, who took it over from Smith’s, with his family members Paddy and Eamon becoming involved in more recent times.

Chevron (Ireland) Atlantic Ltd are the company who began demolishing houses at nearby Maxwell’s Terrace, opposite the Lisdoo, earlier this year. Demolition work began on the derelict houses back in March with the site currently lying idle. It is believed this land will form part of the new super garage.

58 tenants left owing thousands in rent following council cock-up

Several council house tenants have been left thousands of euro in arrears on their rent because of a cock-up by the local authority.

Louth County Council recently carried out a rent review of all its tenants with question marks emerging in 58 cases over what should have been paid and what was actually paid after what was described as being a “misinterpretation” of the rent scheme.

In one of the cases a woman who believed she was in credit on her account is now €13,000 in arrears.

There were 500 cases from this summer’s review where more money was owed to the council than had been originally thought. It was revealed at Monday’s County Council meeting that 58 of those were the council’s own fault while the remaining 442 were due to undeclared incomes, with one tenant owing more than €20,000 as a result of this.

The rent arrears owed to the council have increased by 65% in just under a year from €1,951,000 in July 2014 to €3,215,000 in August this year.

The matter in relation to the 58 is solely in relation to Dundalk, with the former town council interpreting things wrongly when calculating rents. In Drogheda the rents were properly calculated.

Cllr Maria Doyle

Commenting on the matter on the Michael Reade Show on LMFM yesterday, Cllr Maria Doyle of Fine Gael hit out at the council’s handling of the matter.

“There’s a few problems here that we need to look at,” she said.

“Firstly the council has a poor record on debt collection in general, not just in terms of rents but rates. In my opinion they haven’t done anything really yet to tackle the rent arrears problem and it’s increasing every month.”

Cllr Doyle said rent reviews needed to be carried out more regularly.

“I’ve been told they hadn’t carried out a rent review in three years and really it should be an annual review.

“There’s another issue that if you have undeclared income you should let the council know but that information would be captured if the rent reviews were done more regularly.”

Also speaking on LMFM, Cllr Mark Dearey of the Green Party said he had sympathy for the 58 tenants affected by the council’s error.

Cllr Mark Dearey

“It’s utterly unwelcome news for the 58 households who find themselves in arrears not due to any deceit on their part but because of an error in how the legislation was interpreted in Dundalk.

“The problem seems to primarily in Dundalk and dates back quite a period because you don’t build up those sort of arrears in a year. It could take many years to build up.

“At the very minimum people have been getting undercharged through no fault of their own. I asked why previous county managers had not seen this trend between the two towns and I was taken aback by the reaction I got but, leaving that aside, the question remains how long is this going on for and why did nobody spot it? I think those questions need to be answered.”

Cllr Dearey said those affected shouldn’t have their lives “impaired” by the council error, pointing out they may now struggle to get the likes of a credit union loan because of the debt against their name.

“The 58 households in this particular bind, payment plans may be put in place for them but nevertheless they have debt against their names now.

“There may well be a challenge through the Ombudsman from one of these households and it seems to me they would have a strong case.

“A writedown won’t be considered but some of this can’t be paid. There are people who take the council as a soft touch and won’t pay in any shape or form but other people do need assistance,” he said.

Ardee pub and nite club close to being sold

One of Ardee’s best known pubs and nite clubs is close to being sold after sale agreed signs went up on the property recently.

Brian Muldoon & Sons, on the corner of Bridge Street and Tierney Street, went on sale with Dundalk-based estate agents REA Gunne Property in June for an undisclosed sum.

It now appears a deal is close to being completed.

As well as the bar, lounge, dining area, restaurant and off lience, the sale includes the Luna nite club and function room, together with a large private residence located on Tierney Street.

In a separate development a one acre site containing a car park and industrial units, also nearby on Tierney Street, has also gone sale agreed with REA Gunne Property.

Could the two developments be part of a long term play for something bigger?

Go ahead given for 12 new houses in Dromiskin

One of the existing homes in the Seabrook development in Dromiskin

The go ahead has been given for 12 new houses at Seabrook in Dromiskin.

Adonis Enterprises Limited have been given conditional planning permission for the 12 detached dwellings, which will range in height from one to two-and-a-half storeys.

Their application consists of 12 detached dwellings ranging in height from one to two-and-a-half storeys. Each dwelling will have an option for the installation of photovolatic/solar panels on the front and/or rear roof slopes.

The proposed development also provides for associated open space, landscaping, boundary treatments and all site development works while vehicular access is provided via the existing access to the Seabrook development, off the Commons Road.

Contents of McEntegart’s Bar in Park Street to be auctioned tomorrow

McEntegart’s in Park Street

Euro Auctions in Francis Street will auction off the contents from McEntegart’s Bar in Park Street at 12 noon tomorrow.

Over 500 lots will go under the hammer on the day including public house memorabilia, furniture, china, art and much more.

Viewing takes place from 12 noon to 7pm today.

For further details contact Jimmy Cumiskey on 086 8149599 or Euro Auctions on 042 9351212.

Owner of the pub, Brian McEntegart, aka The Vinegar Man, passed away last May.

Brian ran Brian McEntegart’s at 100 Park Street for 35 years before retiring in October 2012. The pub had been in the family since being founded by his father, Bernard, in the 1920s.

Brian took over the pub in 1977 and even though he had retired his association with the pub continued as he remained living there. He had leased it out since his retirement but it has remained shut for over a year.

Just 900 homes in Louth valued above €300,000 for Local Property Tax

Just 900 homes in Co Louth are valued above €300,000 when it comes to assessing the level of Local Property Tax.

In total there are around 47,800 homes in the county registered for the charge, which was introduced in 2013.

However, while the average asking price for a house in the county is now reported to be just under €165,000, the vast majority came in valued under this.

Just under 2% were valued over €300,000 while only around 4,100 homes were valued between €200,000 – €300,000, a sum totaling 8.6%.

The remaining 42,800 homes were all valued at levels up to €200,000.

Yesterday’s Budget put off Property Tax re-evaluations until 2019.

Eir selling Dundalk site as part of portfolio of 12 nationwide

A 5.51 acre (2.23 hectare) site in Dundalk is one of 12 properties around the country being offloaded by recently rebranded telecommunications company Eir.

The 12 sites, including the one at the Demesne Road, have been deemed surplus to requirements and are for sale at a combined value of about €5.8 million through agents BNP Paribas Real Estate.

The local site, located next to Ice House Hill Park, has an asking price of €330,000. For further details contact Mark Forrest on 01 6611233.