Ideas to sell a Georgian office in Belfast city centre?

[looseleaf]

I reckon this might be one of the quietest threads on Mumsnet .
We bought a beautiful but run down office building seconds from Belfast's city hall but before the market took a huge downturn and not sure how to sell it.

I contacted a chartered surveyor a year or two ago but they said it was hard to know who to market it to/ didn't progress things really.

We're expecting to make a loss but surely we can sell it somehow? Who do we talk to? (I know I sound clueless and we hoped to wait for the market to pick up but need to release some finances to buy a house to live in!)

wow sounds lovely, I love Belfast,

What sort of condition is it in?

Outside space?

Parking?

size?

What original features are there, what's been done to it, to make it into an office space?

any pictures?

sounds like it has a lot of potential.

Ooh, I used to live in Belfast! Is it the lovely one on Queen Street, beside Craftworld?

Am so uplifted to have replies as feel so stuck with how to progress! thank you.

It's in good condition structurally but run down inside; was last used as offices 5 or so years ago as we haven't done anything active to rent or sell it and it's been niggling me /it's slightly ridiculous as we need the money with young children and in a cramped flat!

It has from memory about 5000sq ft but we got planning permission for an extension.
It's not the one on Queen St.
Has lovely proportions, no parking. I don't think I have pictures but will post if find any

Could you get planning permisison to convert to residential flats (at least the upper floors) and live there yourself as you are in a cramped flat?

A lot of councils are looking at this in the UK as a way of regenerating town centres by bringing people back in. It at least puts into use the empty space above shops. If you did something similar, you could then perhaps rent out the smaller space on the ground floor as an office shop to a small business.

Otherwise an auction may be your only way for a quick sale.

We live in London but have someone who checks on it every week.
Auction sounds a good idea , presumably one can set a reserve price? (See how clueless I am)
The business next door expressed interest a few times but this didn't go anywhere

It would seem a very good address for a lawyers or architects office. But I imagine most people would want something ready to move into and it isn't

DH likes auction idea. We'll discuss and keep you posted! Thanks

Yes you can set a reserve and let the neighbouring business bid at the auction. Use a good commercial auction house that holds a regular monthly or quarterly commercial / investment property auction. They will then email their contact list of buyers and put it up on their website.

You may wish to consider using one of the UK commercial property auction houses that holds auctions in London but who sells Irish properties on behalf of NAMA. That way you wil get a lot more international investors looking.

If you do go down the auction route, it would be worth talking to the planners about what sort of permissions my be granted for change of use,

In the street and surrounding streets, what are similar properties being used for,

When we buy at auction, we often are getting development properties at a low price than if we were buying them on the open market,

Something like your property will get a higher price if developers know there is already permission to turn it into flats.

that trending in the area, since you bought the property, what has changed in the immediate area,

go on the local planning website, read all the permissions granted, and all the proposals for local properties.

then go on zoopla or similar, look at the prices all the other properties in the road area have gone for, then compare any that are similar to yours.

once you have that information, you will know how to adjust your proper to the target audience.

has your original planning permission lapsed ?

You could contact McConnell Chartered Surveyors in Rosemary Street. They own and act as agents for many of the commercial properties in Belfast city centre, so may be interested in it. I work in the city centre and rent offices from them and they are very good to deal with.

Whereabouts is it? There is a lot of development going on in various parts of the city at the moment, so you might be lucky with a buyer!

I'd definitely explore converting it - you won't have to do any of the work yourself, just spend some money on planning. Certainly in England, if office space hasn't been used for a few years, it makes it much easier to get consent tobuse it residentially.

It's on May street. This is all most helpful, thanks. I'll check whether planning permission has lapsed but it was fairly recent as took them about 3 years to agree after various revisions!

that's a really good central position.

Do you have a floor plan?

I have paper plans somewhere but can only find the proposed revised plans so far (which took a while to finalise due to it being listed and a few issues with Environment and Heritage (E&H).
Yes, it's a great position.

I will look into the idea of planning permission for residential; DH is from N Ireland and previously has thought not a huge market to live centrally in Belfast but maybe this is changing

Thanks too for the idea of checking planning website and zoopla - I'm no longer lost for ideas where to start and delighted. DH is so busy with work we've really struggled to make any steps at all to sell

Ps I spoke to McConnell in Dec 11 who said things were selling at 10% of their value at auction. So it does seem a hard market or maybe it's improved