Chamber HQ sells for €190k

Harbour House, a listed building, located at Market Square, Longford town changed hands at a public auction last Thursday for €190,000.

The final sale price, some €40,000 above its initial guide price, raised more than a few eyebrows among those who watched proceedings unfold at the Longford Arms Hotel.

A total of five bidders took part in the auction, which opened at the €100,000 mark.

Within a matter of minutes, that figure increased to €135,000, leading auctioneer Fintan McGill of Sherry Fitzgerald McGill to confirm that the property would be sold.

That sparked further action from the floor with the bidding eventually tapering off at €185,000 before ultimately selling for €190,000.

The property spans 1500ft and comes with ten parking spaces to its rear, a state of the art security system, together with a yearly rent of €7,200.

It's a figure which could rise still further after Mr McGill revealed prior to the auction commencing that the Chamber might seek to rent a room until it manages to find a suitable office of its own.

Speaking afterwards, Mr McGill admitted he had not anticipated the property to fetch such a sum.

"I expected it to make around the €155,000-€160,000 mark, judging from the level of interest in the last week which was quite a good level of interest," he said.

At the Chamber's recently held AGM, members unanimously passed a motion from the directors of the property to sell the building, thereby bringing the curtain down on its two-decade long association with the building.

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