A 16-acre development site at Nutts Corner has gone on the market, with its owners seeking bids in excess of £4.25 million.
The extensive site on the Moira Road, located opposite the Nutts Corner raceway, has in recent years operated as a makeshift business park, run by the Hamill family.
Their business, The Auction Yard Limited, earlier this year failed to overturn a 2023 enforcement notice issued by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council in respect of the alleged unauthorised use of the land at 50 Moira Road for the sale of motor vehicles.
The Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) upheld the council’s decision in a March 2024 ruling.
A separate appeal against an enforcement notice in respect of the unauthorised erection of four buildings without planning permission, was withdrawn last month.
The site, which was placed on the market in recent days, was previously occupied by McConnell’s Metals during the 1990s.
It later became a base for the refurbishment of the Northern Ireland Railway network.
The Auction Yard was set up on the site in 2010.
The March 2024 report from the PAC states: “There are currently 11 other live enforcement notices on the wider site.”
The 16-acres lie just 1,000 metres from the Nutts Corner Roundabout, which has become a hub for major industrial development in the past year.
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Sysco Ireland is nearing completion on a £23m distribution centre nearby, while the Hannon Group secured planning permission in July for a £22m investment in a major new facility on Nutts Corner Road.
In December 2023, a subsidiary of the Co Tyrone industrial machinery specialist Euro Auctions secured planning approval for a 240,000 sq ft storage and distribution warehouse immediately to the south of Lidl’s regional distribution centre for the north.
That site has been linked to a major new industrial investment by the fast growing composites group Jans.
NIE Networks is also progressing a new £6m training centre at Nutts Corner, while Balloo Hire has entered the planning process seeking to significantly expand its base at nearby Nutts Corner Road.
Commenting on the 16-acre site at 50 Moira Road, selling agents Savills said: “The lands offer a potential purchaser the unique opportunity to purchase a future development site, which benefits from short term income.
“About 85% of the site benefits from being covered in hardstanding with a concrete laneway providing access throughout the lands.
“There are a number of warehouse/storage buildings and office which are currently occupied by commercial occupiers. “The vendor is prepared to dispose of the property either with the benefit of the occupiers remaining on site, or with the benefit of vacant possession.”
