Waterford Port Company is to sell its freehold interest in what is probably the best located car-park in the city - The Quays.
Des O'Shea of local agent O'Shea O'Toole is quoting a guide price of €4.25 million for the strategically located site which extends to 0.547 hectares (1.35 acres) and can accommodate 278 cars.
The car-park is leased to a local company, Keverflow, owned by a number of business people for 35 years from 1993 subject to an annual rent and 5.5 per cent of the annual gross turnover. Last year the rent came to €57,144 while the share of the revenue amounted to €53,331. Keverflow also had to pay a foreshore rent of €5,715.
An attractive feature of the lease from the landlord's point of view is the condition that the next rent review in 2009 should be linked to open market rental values. The same conditions will apply to five-yearly reviews after that date.
The location of the car-park, opposite the junction of The Quays and Barrowstrand Street, one of the principal shopping precincts in the city, enhances its value. However, the port authority is not prepared to say whether the site has development potential. On the opposite side of the River Suir, the company has sold 14 acres previously used for port activities to the Cork-based property developers O'Flynn for around €32 million.
The sale followed the relocation of the port downriver to Belview. In the opposite direction, work has commenced on the building of another bridge over the Suir which will eventually form part of the N25 Waterford city bypass when it opens in 2010.
