Washington Street office block for sale in the eyes of the law
Aerial view of Washington Street. Florence Building just visible in left hand corner, across from Cork City's main courthouse. Picture: Denis Scannell
WITH Cork city’s main courthouse just across the road, legal eagles may swoop in on Florence Buildings, a distinctive, redbrick, copper-turreted office block, on the market for €450,000.
It’s been home in the past to Daly, Derham, Donnelly solicitors, who relocated to Cleve Industrial Park on Cork City’s Monahan Road.
Now vacant, the high profile building extends over four floors, taking in 1A Washington Street and a portion of 3-4 Hanover Place. It has the benefit of being accessible from the corner of Washington Street, while also having side access from Hanover Place.
Inside, the 2,855 sq ft premises includes a ground floor reception area, a number of private office rooms, open plan office areas, a large boardroom and staff canteen. Restrooms are on the ground and top floor levels.
Selling agents are Brian Edwards and Colm O’Connor of CBRE and they say it’s “ideally suited to a solicitor practice, given its strategic location, adjacent to Cork Courthhouse”.
They add that the property, which is being sold with vacant possession, is likely to appeal to both owner occupiers and investors.
The surrounding area is predominantly occupied by professional services, together with a wide variety of amenities such as cafes, restaurants and convenience retail
The premises, which dates back to 1920, has a long association with legal eagles. It previously featured in these pages in 2003, when it was on the market with the significantly higher guide price of €1.2m, making it look like a bargain this time around. At one point, seven barristers shared the upstairs floors, while downstairs was a shop. It was run by the Higgins family for more than 80 years and subsequently, by well-known former Irish rugby player and IRFU figure Noel Murphy. His sons ran it as a shop, and in the late 1990s it was bought by publican Tom Scriven, who had plans to incorporate it into a superpub, but subsequently sold it on.
The CRBE agents say the ground floor does have potential for retail, with the benefit of two access points.
Brian.s.edwards@cbre.com or Colm.oconnor1@cbre.com, Tel: 0214917255
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