A Douglas councillor says there’s a ‘double benefit’ to selling the former Lord Street flats.

Last week, Douglas city council revealed it had put the Lord Street flats up for sale on the open market.

The 56 flats, across four blocks, were built in the 1930s but the last tenants were moved out in 2022 when the new Peel Road development was completed.

Chair of the Housing Committee Devon Watson claims 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 said the authority have considered redeveloping the site but believes the council would get ‘more mileage’ from selling the development on the open market.

‘We could redevelop the property ourselves, but this has a number of disadvantages,’ he added.

‘So if a private developer were to come in, or a government entity would come in and start to redevelop the area, we would take the proceeds from that sale and build additional social housing elsewhere, then essentially get a double benefit.

‘Firstly, you've got 50 more homes from the redevelopment of Lord Street, plus you get additional social housing elsewhere, which increases the total housing stock, which is great for renters who are suffering from a renting crisis at the moment, and it's really, really good for rate payers, because there are additional rate paying properties, which reduces the rate burden on everybody else.

‘We're going to see what the market gives us and see what is offered to us.’

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