The Northern Irish commercial property market is picking-up, with numerous firms seeking space in Belfast city centre in particular.
This week, technology giant Allstate submitted a planning application to Belfast City Council for a major new office development after being rumoured to have purchased the intended site from the local authority in a deal worth £1.7 million.
If planning permission is granted, Allstate will construct a five storey office property in the currently vacant site next to the former Maysfield Leisure Centre to the east of the city centre.
Measuring around 1.8 acres, the site is currently vacant and lies in close proximity to Central Station, offering excellent transportation links for the potential new build.
At this point, it is not known whether the firm intends to relocate from its current premises in nearby Lanyon Place, or whether the property will be used to house the technology firm’s expanding workforce.
Allstate currently employs around 2,000 workers across its three sites in Northern Ireland, but in 2013 unveiled a recruitment drive which will create 650 new positions in the sector by 2016, indicating that a larger amount of office space will be required in the near future.
Neither Belfast City Council or Allstate have chosen to comment upon the sale of the land nor the proposed build at this stage in proceedings, but the land has now been taken off the market and is described as “sale agreed” by local agents.
Previously, the council confirmed that it would only consider offers in the region of the price Allstate is believed to have paid, saying “all bids must attain as a minimum the threshold level of £1.7 million to qualify for further assessment.”
In the planning application, Allstate has also requested permission to create “associated car parking and landscaping together with realignment of existing car parking area”, indicating that the property may indeed be earmarked for use as its new headquarters. It is not yet known whether the granting of planning permission would trigger yet another round of recruitment proceedings for the firm.
Yet Allstate’s planning request is not the only exciting application submitted for the wider site, as it was revealed last month that call centre firm Concentrix has acquired the neighbouring vacant Maysfield Leisure Centre. It, too, will be transformed into a large office development, meaning that the small site in east Belfast may soon be home to two of the city’s most significant firms.
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