What could be done with the AIB Bank building on Main Street?
AIB Bank
They are virtually giving away the former AIB Bank building in Lower Main St. It is a prime property on 3 floors and lies on 800 square metres of prime land in the centre of the town.
If you had tried to buy it a few years ago you would have had to have at least a million quid. Now it is for sale for just €110,000.
So, what could be done with this building which is on 3 floors?
An obvious person to buy it would be the new owner of the Caiseal Mara as the two properties lead onto each other. The car parking space might be useful to them.
Offices
Another obvious use is for offices. The building could be split into offices and sold or rented out. However, there’s not exactly a dearth of office space in Moville.
What about a bar/restaurant? Perhaps the ground floor could be used as a bar with a restaurant on the floor above.
However, the smart money in Moville is on whoever buys it keeping it shut for 5 years or so before selling it when property prices have risen and there are people again who want to buy or rent prime property in the middle of town.
That would be a shame but understandable.
The Council could buy it, sell the building for whatever they could get, and use the land to create a public car park.
Interest
If you were to keep €110,000 in the bank for 5 years at interest rates of 2% it would be worth something like €12,000 after 5 years.
In 5 years time the price of that AIB property could easily double. It’s probably worth more than it is being sold for now. It’s just that there are few people with any money around and those with it can pay what they want for a property.