A Dundee housing project launched by a city drug dealer has been placed on the market.
Planning approval for flats on the site of the former Rialto Cinema in Lochee was granted the month after millionaire businessman Stephen Donald was sentenced to five years behind bars for his part in organising a drug deal involving £24,000 worth of heroin.
Donald, of Charleston near Glamis, was one of six men jailed for a total of almost 26 years at the High Court in Edinburgh in January.
They were part of a Tayside drug gang captured during Operation Archangel and, while there was no evidence Donald had handled the drugs personally, phone records showed he had brokered the deal.
Donald was described in court as a businessman with interests in property and it is understood he bought the Rialto site at Gray’s Lane some years ago.
Eyebrows were raised when the potentially lucrative property deal was granted planning permission shortly after he was sentenced.
Dundee City Council made it clear the fact Donald was a convicted criminal was no legal obstacle to obtaining planning consent and that the local authority was powerless to block the competently submitted application.
The Rialto Cinema opened in 1928 and was the first in the city to show ”talkies”. It closed in 1962 and was converted to a bingo hall.
The building was given B-listed listed status in 1993, but many of its important architectural features were lost in a fire.
Now the site is being marketed by Dundee solicitor Baillies at offers in excess of £150,000, with the firm describing the development as an ”excellent investment opportunity in a well-established residential area.”
The cinema is being sold with planning permission for demolition of the derelict building and the construction of 12 two- and three-bedroom flats, with 16 parking spaces.
Following Donald’s conviction the Crown Office indicated it intended to pursue him under the Proceeds of Crime Act with a view to seizing some of his assets.
A spokesman for the Crown Office confirmed those proceedings are ongoing.
The next confiscation hearing has been set down for December 5 at the High Court in Edinburgh, he added.