THE LONG-RUNNING saga over the closure and sale of the former Waterford Crystal plant at Kilbarry looks like being finally wrapped up following a formal offer for the property from local shopping centre owner Noel Frisby.
Isobelle O’Regan of Savills had originally been hoping to secure between €10 and €20 million for the 36-acre site with more than 50,618 sq m (544,854sq ft) of buildings after Deloitte were appointed receivers in January, 2009.
The closure of the famous crystal factory coincided with a change of fortune in the property market and, despite an extensive marketing campaign, there were few takers for the redevelopment site. The selling price is expected to be in the region of €3 million. However, O’Regan would only say this week that the site is “under active negotiation.”
However disappointing the selling price may be, it will be nothing like the distress experience by workers and management in the final years of the crystal plant when huge losses were incurred and the workforce, which at one time stood at 3,200, was reduced to a few hundred.
The chairman of the company, Sir Anthony O’Reilly, and his brother-in-law Peter Goulandris poured about €400 million into the business only to see it collapse.
The former crystal plant is one of the largest in the country and is located just two kilometres from the city centre. It adjoins the Waterford Institute of Technology and has considerable frontage on to the Cork road as well as the Claremount Road and the Ash Road.
The industrial building alone extends to 45,552sq m (490,000sq ft). Part of the site will have to be decontaminated. The complex also includes a three-storey office block of 2,237sq m (28,040sq ft) and a purpose-built visitor centre which was extended in 1997.
Mr Frisby is recognised as an astute property developer, having built and operated Lisduggan shopping centre in the city where Tesco is the anchor tenants. He also owns Ardkeen retail park where the same UK multiple has another outlet.
Mr Frisby came to national attention in 2010 when he lodged a successful appeal with An Bord Pleanala against a decision to allow cut price fashion retailer TK Maxx to trade in the local Butlerstown retail warehouse park. The test case subsequently went to the High Court which held that neither TK Maxx nor Mothercare should be allowed to sell clothing from their stores in Butlerstown.
Mr Frisby will have his work cut out to find tenants for the huge mass of industrial buildings on the former crystal site.
