Longford Expo

The Longford Expo was a great success with a huge turnout. The weather was great and it was good to see the empty shopping centre put to good use. The shopping centre was built by McNamara construction but never found any tenants and is now in Nama. Let's hope someone can come up with creative ideas for the space. It is in a nearly completed stage of finish and appears to have been well maintained while vacant.

Carrigglas Update

Carrigglas Development outside Longford on the Ballinalee Road has been in receivership since 2008 with no sign of any one interested in the property. The development is on over 600 acres and was planned to have 330 new homes. Below you can see the current state of the place. It is difficult to know who would want to buy it as it is no longer suitable for agricultural use without a lot of investment. The original website is still up at www.carrigglas.ie.

Ardagh College sold for E1.36million

The college was originally sold for E5.2 million in October 2007. The property consists of 214 acres of land suitable for farming and the original college buildings. The reduction in price reflects the overall decline in property prices throughout the county but it is somewhat surprising that agricultural land hasn't held up better given the strength of the farming sector and the sharp increase in farm incomes. More details from the Irish Independent.

Longford Town Council buy old Army Barracks

Connolly  Army barracks in Co Longford was officially signed over to the county’s local authorities for €450,000 today. 

Longford Developer in Receivership

Local Developers, Leatime Construction are in receivership following moves by ACC to call in their debts. Leatime have several developments around the midlands including Glasheen in Drumlish. Full details at the Sunday Business Post.
ACC seizes housing developments in Cavan, Longford and Leitrim.

Longford Army Barracks to close?

It looks like our local Army barracks may get the chop in the budget which is due out tomorrow. Sean Connolly barracks houses the 4th Cavalry and was an old British Barracks. More details at the Irish Independent.

ACCBank to close its Longford Branch

ACCBank is to close it's local Longford town branch as part of a cutback in services and will transfer staff to other locations. The closure is expected by January 16th 2009. Full details at the RTE website.

Longford to pass Athlone for shopping?

A new report from Experian suggests that Longford will overtake Athlone as the regions main shopping destination. From the Independent ...
"One of the surprising forecasts is in the midlands league, where it expects Longford, with a retail spend of €241m, to edge ahead of Athlone, at €232m by 2018, despite the latter's central location and third-level college."

Local Auctioneers close up office

The local branch of ERA Ireland in Longford town has closed up their office. They had been in business over two years but were unable to weather the downturn.

Bowen to restart Carrigglas?

John Bowen, the chief executive of the Bowen Group, has said he is optimistic that construction will resume in the near future on the troubled Carrigglas Manor development in Co Longford. Bowen Construction, a company within the Bowen Group, is the lead contractor on the project.Work on the scheme came to a halt last year due to a dispute over payments to contractors. ‘‘We are involved in extensive negotiations with the bankers of the project with the view to getting work restarted. It’s too early to tell how that will work, but I’d be pretty optimistic that we’ll get it back on the rails,” Bowen said.

Full article at the Sunday Business Post.

Longford Developers adjusting to new market conditions

Bowen Construction prepares to take a hit on Carrigglas

From the Sunday Business Post........


Bowen Group writes down €8m for resort project
09 March 2008 By Ian Kehoe
The Bowen Group has made an €8 million bad debt provision arising from its involvement in a hotel and golf development at Carrigglas Manor in Co Longford. Bowen is the lead contractor on the €160 million resort.

Construction work on the site stopped last year, following a dispute over payments to contractors, and has yet to resume. The Cork building firm has made the €8 million provision in its accounts, in the event of having to write off its debts in relation to the project.

John Bowen, chairman of the Bowen Group, said the provision reflected the ‘‘worst case scenario’’, but that the company still believed the Carrigglas project could be restarted. He said the company was working with a number of parties to resuscitate the development.

Market Slowdown starts to hurt

Longford developers and builders are starting to feel the effects of the slowdown in property sales with one local firm going out of business.

From the Sunday Business Post,

Building firm collapses with €1.5m debts 09 December 2007

A midlands construction company has collapsed with debts of almost €1.5 million. James Gerety Construction, a Longford-based contractor, went into liquidation last week after running into cashflow difficulties. The company owes the Revenue Commissioners more than €100,000. The company tried to restructure its finances to overcome the recent slowdown in the construction sector. However, the directors ultimately decided to convene a meeting of the firm’s creditors, during which the company was wound up. Declan Taite, a partner with accountancy firm Farrell Grant Sparks (FGS), was appointed liquidator. Taite will examine the background to the company’s collapse and distribute its remaining assets. According to its statement of affairs, circulated to creditors last week, builders’ merchants Brooks is owed almost €100,000. Kiernan Roofing and Midwestern Electrical are owed €58,000 and €42,000 respectively. The company is owned by James and Theresa Gerety of Gowan, Co Longford. The company had a turnover of more than €7 million and retained profits of €50,000 at the end of last year. It worked as a contractor on a number of social and affordable housing developments in the Longford area.

Ardagh College Sold

Ardagh College has been sold to a Solicitor from Mullingar who made the purchase for a consortium. The sale of the 214 acre lot was for €5.2 million. A smaller zoned lot of 12 acres did not sell at auction and is under negotiation. More details at the Irish Independent which speculates that the property will be developed as a hotel.

Construction Halted at Carriglass

The Sunday Business Post reports that Bowen Construction has stopped work at Carriglas due to a dispute over payments to sub contractors. There has been a lot of rumours locally that the site may close as house sales are very slow. It appears that the high prices being asked combined with the small house types and high density are not appealing to today's buyers.

Planning Restrictions due to New Motorway

The National Roads Authority has released a new map showing the constraint area which restricts development in Longford and Westmeath. The area will become smaller as potential routes are ruled out. Consultations have been held with the public in both counties. Local builders and developers will have to review their site plans if they fall within the area and it will add an extra step to the planning process.

Longford last in Planning Applications

It may seem that local engineers and architects are busy with planning but Longford had only 197 applications in the second quarter of 2007. This is less than Leitrim (258) and Roscommon (422) and puts us in last place in the entire country. It appears that Longford builders have less confidence than the rest of the country. Full details are available at the CSO website.

Ardagh College and land for sale

The Sisters of Mercy school at Ardagh has been put ip for sale for auction on 11th October 2007. The grounds are over 214 acres and the large house was used until recently as a Rural Home Economics College. Guide price is €6.5 million for the entire property.

New Dunnes Stores Supermarket

Construction is well advanced on the new Dunnes and the opening is expected in about two months. This latest addition to Longford's retail market will be welcomed by Longford shoppers who will have a greater choice of options.

New Shopping Centre Progressing Well

The new shopping centre at Little Water Street on the banks of the Camlin is coming along well and changing the skyline of Longford town.