Negotiations on sale of town centre property

Although a potential purchaser of Westmeath County Council’s property at Church Avenue, Mullingar may have pulled out, the local authority are in negotiations with another possible buyer. The building, which has been lying idle since the local authority HQ opened in 2009, is currently on the market.

At the March meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad, Cllr Mick Dollard tabled a motion asking if the executive could advise members of plans (if any) the council have for “the long vacant building” at Church Avenue that previously housed the old Motor Taxation Office and the library.

At the meeting, district engineer Pat Kavanagh, told the members the property was “up for sale” and that the Property Management Section of the local authority are “pursuing the option of selling this building on the open market”.

The building was closed as part of the transition to a modern facility when Westmeath County Council buildings were opened on June 11, 2009.

Cllr Dollard raised the matter again at the May meeting of the County Council asking the executive: “Could somebody please tell me, what does the Church Avenue property consist of? It was the old Motor Tax Office, were there additional residential units attached to it? This is in the ownership of Westmeath County Council and it’s lying vacant for too long. We need to do something about it.”

In his reply, director of finance, Michael Hand, explained the current position: “They are no residential apartments that I’m aware of. We actually have a new interest party there.

“We’re pursuing that, and we were just reminding before the meeting that we are to meet the individual involved. So it’s on the open market, as I said.

We had a potential applicant, but that fell through, so there’s another one in the pipeline now,” Mr Hand told the councillors.