Landmark Sunday's Well church and car park on market for just €375,000

A decade after the last Mass was celebrated at the former St Vincent’s Church in Sunday’s Well and following a change of heart by potential purchaser UCC, the landmark Cork city building is back on the market with the guide price slashed in half, to €375,000.

The imposing 170-year-old red sandstone building on Cork city’s northwestern hills is being sold by the Vincentian Order, which ceased religious ceremonies at the Gothic-style 12,000 sq ft premises in 2016.

Likely to have diverse buyer interest, the prominently-sited building, on the shoulder of Sunday’s Well Road, adjoins a former Vincentian Order seminary, owned since 1999 by the UCC Department of Music, close to its North Mall campus.

Included in the offer is the 8,813 sq ft (818 sq m) church, a protected structure, at street level, and below it, on the lower ground floor, a large hall (2,926 sq ft/272 sq m) formerly used as a community centre. The site itself, measuring 0.58 acres (0.235ha), consists mainly of the footprint of the church, as well as a car park with 18 spaces. A licence agreement with the car park operator — with a revenue split agreement in place — is renewed on an annual basis.

Potential future uses for the church, now available to buy at half the price (€375 k in 2026 v €750k in 2018) include the “obvious potential for another religious body”, said selling agent Gerard O’Callaghan of Lisney. Interested parties in the past included evangelical Christian groups and the Orthodox Church.

Other potential uses include a funeral home — Jerh O’Connor Funeral Homes bought The Grange Bar and Restaurant for more than €1m in July, albeit they have yet to reveal their plans — or for use by an institution or an educational body or as a hospitality venue.

Likely to have diverse buyer interest, the prominently-sited building, on the shoulder of Sunday’s Well Road, adjoins a former Vincentian Order seminary.

“When you consider that it’s a 12,000 sq ft premises with 18 car parking spaces within a short walk of the city centre, you could say it’s the bargain of the century,” said Mr O’Callaghan.