One of the last seafront properties in Galway's Salthill has been put on the market at a guide price of €1 million.
The turn-of-the-century property on Upper Salthill Road was once home to Connie Finan, whose brother Noel changed the face of the seaside village when he built the Seapoint restaurant and ballroom and opened it in July 1949.
The ballroom put Salthill on the jazz, swing and big band map in the 1950s and 1960s with musicians Acker Bilk, Vera Lynn, Kenny Ball and the Dutch Swing College Band among those playing. Herb Miller, brother of Glen, and his 22-piece orchestra were flown over to mark its closure in 1985.
Galway estate agents DNG Maxwell Heaslip and Leonard have been appointed to auction the bungalow as an executor’s sale for the estate of Evelyn Finan.
The agents expect the focus of interest will be on the development potential of the property. It was built on half an acre of land which is zoned as residential, with potential for over 20,000sq ft of living accommodation.
Boutique hostel
Next to it is the Pointe Boise apartment complex, with the Nest boutique hostel and the Galway Business School. The house is opposite the old Warwick Hotel, where a new owner is seeking planning permission for a four-storey, 60-bed nursing home.
Agent James Heaslip said: “While the house is attractive, it will need work and would make a stunning family home, in the right hands. However, the real potential is with the site’s development possibility. The current demand for residential property in Galway city is well documented, and the supply is at an all-time low.”
The auction takes place in the Galmont Hotel (formerly Radisson ), Lough Atalia, Galway on March 6th at 3pm.
Galway historian Tom Kenny, who is curating a photographic exhibition on old Salthill which is due to open in Galway City Museum at the end of next month, said the Finan brothers were well respected in the community.
“Their grandfather, Martin Finan, had mined for gold in South Africa, and bought what is now Killoran’s pub in Salthill on his return – close to Seapoint and to the terminus for the Galway and Salthill Tramway Company,” Mr Kenny said.
