A former bank in the heart of Aberdeen is up for sale, with the agent predicting its location opposite Union Terrace Gardens (UTG) will make it particularly attractive.
Property firm FG Burnett is expecting plenty of interest in the site spanning 17-19 Union Terrace.
Offers are invited for the buildings, which include two flats, 1A and 1B Diamond Place, and are being marketed as a “prime” residential or commercial conversion opportunity.
FG Burnett director Graeme Nisbet said it was too soon to say how much they may fetch, with the price dependent on what any new owner wanted to do with the site.
The property was home to a branch of TSB until late 2016.
Mr Nisbet said the £30 million UTG development and its new business tenants gave properties on Union Terrace, such as the former TSB, added appeal.
He added: “This is a good opportunity for a developer to come along and do something different with it.
“There is variety of alternative uses from a residential and commercial point of view.”
New restaurants?
The close proximity to cultural amenities like Aberdeen Art Gallery and His Majesty’s Theatre should also help to attract a buyer, he said.
Large basements in the property could potentially become restaurants, or the property could be transformed into prestigious urban dwellings, he suggested.
Joint agents FG Burnett and Savills will consider selling parts of the site separately or together.
Mr Nisbet said: “We think this is a really exciting opportunity and we expect there will be a number of developers wanting to get involved.”
Niall MacLeod, head of development for Savills in Aberdeen, said: “This opportunity is being brought to the market just as Union Terrace Gardens nears completion.
“Its new occupiers will greatly benefit from the fantastic amenity and green space being created in the city centre.”
Gardens nearing completion
UTG has been undergoing major refurbishment since summer 2019.
The project has been delayed several times, with global events from Covid to the war in Ukraine blamed for the cancellation of the much-anticipated opening of the park.
A “soft opening” of the Victorian sunken gardens was also called off at the very last minute at the end of April.
And while council bosses announced the first of the three new pavilions on the edge of UTG should be open for business “in August”, a final date for the grand reopening remains to be confirmed.
We think this is a really exciting opportunity and we expect there will be a number of developers wanting to get involved.”
Graeme Nisbet, director, FG Burnett.
Marketing particulars for 17-19 Union Terrace say the property is “supremely placed to benefit from the new visual aspect and amenity that will be created by the UTG project”.
No.19 was designed by architect, William Kelly in 1896, in the Italian Renaissance style.
It was initially home to the New Aberdeen Savings Bank, which had been launched elsewhere in the city, in 1815, for “receiving such small sums as may be saved from the earnings of tradesmen, mechanics, labourers, servants etc.”
The bank was extended to take in No.17 and No.18 during the 1960s and in 1983 it became part of TSB.
It was one of three Aberdeen sites that were shut by TSB at the end of 2016 as part of a plan to put the “right branches in the right places”.
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