Douglas City Council has confirmed it has accepted an offer for the Lord Street flats, a landmark site in the heart of the capital, subject to contract.

The 56 flats, spread across four blocks, were built in the 1930s and remained in use until 2022 when the final tenants were relocated to the newly completed Peel Road development.

The site was placed on the open market in November last year as part of the local authority’s commitment to modernising housing in Douglas.

Proceeds from the sale of the four-storey buildings will be reinvested into future housing projects, along with supporting the council’s ongoing maintenance and refurbishment programme.

While details of the offer remain commercially sensitive at this stage, the council has stated it will provide further information upon completion of the contract.

Back in November last year, Chair of the Housing Committee Devon Watson claimed new social housing could be created elsewhere using money from the sale.

He said: ‘One thing that is worth noting is, whilst [the sale] is going public now, constant work has been done on the project throughout the past year and a half, moving the last folks out of the place, removing the last of the possessions, and trying to work through proposals to either get funding to redevelop the site or sell it onto a developer.’

Councillor Watson added that the authority have considered redeveloping the site but believes the council would get ‘more mileage’ from selling the development on the open market.

The Lord Street site, which is split into four blocks with a communal yard at the rear of each block, was marketed by Black Grace Cowley.

Agents Black Grace Cowley had listed it as ‘a development site’ but stated the 56 apartments were to be sold as a single lot and were ‘ideal for refurbishment’.