Owners of vacant sites face financial penalties
Two landmark city buildings – a former hotel and a milk packaging factory – are among four sites that have been declared officially ‘vacant’ and whose owners will attract hefty penalties for failing to develop the prime land.
The former Dawn Dairies site on the Dublin Road and the former Spinnaker Hotel site on Knocknacarra Road have been placed onto Galway City Council’s Vacant Site Register.
The Dawn Dairies site is in the ownership of Welmount Investments Ltd (headed by Padraic and Martina McHale of McHale’s in Mayo) and the Spinnaker site is in the ownership of Clearwater Ventures Ltd (owned by developer Brian McHugh from Cork and Francis O’Flaherty from Newcastle).
The two other sites that have been added to the City Council’s Vacant Sites Register include lands west of Bóthar Stiofáin in Rahoon, which are owned by Deloitte Ireland, with an address in Dublin; and lands north west of Fána Buí on the Ballymoneen Road, whose registered owner is Cairn Homes Properties Ltd, also in Dublin.
A further two sites are expected to be added to the Vacant Sites Register soon, with four more under review and possibly to be added later this year, pending confirmation on ownership of the land. This is a preview only. To read the rest of this article, see this week's Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week's paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.