Council sold Boole House to UCC for a loss of over €350k

Cork City Council made a loss of €361,664.52 when it sold Boole House to University College Cork (UCC) in 2017.

The property is an 18th century building located on Grenville Place which was once the home of UCC’s first Professor of Mathematics George Boole. It was sold to UCC in 2017 for €600,000.

The figures were released to Social Democrats Cllr Niamh O’Connor at the latest meeting of Cork City Council.

The council spent €961,664.52 on renovations to the property - which are still not completed - on acquiring the property, design investigations, and stabilisation work costs to enable removal of dereliction.

Professional fees - for architects, engineers, quantity surveyors and others - and construction costs accounted for the majority of the expenditure, at €58,883.35, and €868,687 respectively.

Director of Services for Planning and Integrated Development Niall Ó Donnabháin said the decision to transfer ownership of the building to UCC for such as reduced figure was taken because of the “historical and cultural significance” of the building to UCC.

Cllr O’Connor said better safeguards need to be put in place to ensure publicly funded regeneration projects are brought to completion.

“The figures show that the city made a substantial investment in this property and, unfortunately, at the moment there is very little to show for that investment. I acknowledge that the building is now in much better condition than it was in 2009 and 2010 when it partially collapsed, but it remains vacant and unfinished.

She added: “I fully support Cork City Council investing significant sums to take properties out of dereliction. However, if we are making those investments, we need to see projects through so that something tangible is ultimately delivered for the people of Cork.”

She said Boole House could have been used as a blueprint for how to successfully repurpose a derelict historic building.

A spokesperson for UCC said all options for the property are currently being considered, from development to disposal.

They said: “No decision has been made at this point.”

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.