City Hall and the site on which it sits  at College Road is worth €33 million, according to a property valuation seen by the Galway City Tribune.

The City Hall office building was valued at €30m, and the 3.5 acres prime site it is situated on was valued at €3m.

The valuation was carried out by Lynch Auctioneers in November last year. It was released to the Tribune following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

The 12-page valuation report included the auctioneer’s opinion of the current value “for rebuilding costs for insurance purposes”.

Galway City Council is planning to move its headquarters to the Crown Square development in Mervue.

Councillors have approved a loan application for €45.5 million to help to buy the office block. The true cost of this loan will be €63.1 million.

That’s €2 million from the Council’s budget every year for 30 years at an interest rate of 2.25%, amounting to a €17.6m repayment cost on top of the amount borrowed.

The current capital cost of purchase of Crown Square is €56.5m; the €11m difference between outlay and the loan is to be covered by the City Council’s reserves.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, and support our journalism, see the November 4 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.