UK developers poised to join buying spree in Galway City

And ‘big league’ property developers from Britain, including Abbey and Genesis Homes, have made a series of enquiries about the market here.

The Galway City Tribune can reveal that the former Corrib Great Southern, along with the former Dawn Dairies site on the Dublin Road, and the old Par 3 golf course in Rosshill have all been snapped up in separate deals in recent months for a total figure understood to be less than €9 million.

At the height of the boom, the three sites were worth a combined total of up to €60 million.

Galway-born brothers Luke and Brian Comer bought the former hotel for just over €3.5 million, and are expected to build a mixed-use development there in the long-term.

The site is expected to be used for a commercial and residential development, along with some form of educational use – possibly as part of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology campus.

Selling agent Aidan Gavin of DTZ Sherry Fitzgerald confirmed the former hotel has sold for “in excess of €3.5m”, but refused to reveal the buyer. However, the Galway City Tribune has learned the Comer brothers made the purchase.

The hotel was bought by developer Gerry Barrett in 2006 for a figure believed to be in the region of around €30m.

The brothers also purchased the former Par 3 golf course in Rosshill off the Oranmore Coast Road from the Gort-based Michael Fitzgerald Properties, for a figure rumoured to be in the region of €3m.

 The Comer brothers also recently bought the ‘Odeon’ development site in Eyre Square, as well as apartment blocks in Newcastle, Knocknacarra and Oranmore.

Meanwhile, a separate local buyer has purchased the three-acre Dawn Dairies site on the Dublin Road in Renmore for around €1.25m.

The property had been on the market with a guide price of €2m and is zoned for residential use, which would equate to around 50 homes.

Read more in today's Galway City Tribune