A mid-January closing date for offers has been placed on a prime town centre site being sold by Perth and Kinross Council.
The former Pullars building on Mill Street was placed on the market by the local authority in August. The block between the Kinnoull Street multi-storey car park and Perth Concert Hall has lain empty since the local branch of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) closed in 2005.
The sprawling complex has attracted significant interest, and there are high hopes a sale can be made, netting the council a much-needed seven-figure sum and the central shopping area a potential shot in the arm.
As well as firms looking for housing and office space, interest in the historic building has been expressed from the hotel sector.
Nina Stobie, of selling agent Jones Lang LaSalle, said: ”We introduced the property to the market at the end of August and a positive level of interest has been generated.
”Interested parties are assessing the development opportunity for a range of uses, and we have received seven notes of interest to date. A closing date of Wednesday, January 18 has been set for receipt of offers.”
While not being drawn into the specifics of offers, she added: ”Interest has come from a range of uses, which include residential, hotel and office use. There is strong interest and we would expect a range of serious offers by the closing date.”
She said it is not surprising such a site has attracted the market attention it has, despite the economic climate.
”The right opportunity in the right location will always get interest and we are seeing the same at other sites. It is 0.7 of an acre in a prime location in city centre Perth, and it’s not often these opportunities come along.”
The building, which dates from 1865, once housed the Pullars dyeworks and was most recently used as council and DWP offices, but was declared surplus to requirements by the local authority.
It was almost torn down as part of a plan to create a ”cultural hub” in the centre of Perth, linking the concert hall with the High Street through a wide shopping boulevard where the Next and New Look stores are currently located.
That council-backed vision of developer KW Perth fell through as the credit crunch bit, and the block has remained unaltered since.
Other options included a high-end store, with John Lewis linked with the site rumours since quashed by the chain or a five-star hotel or arts centre.
Plans to demolish the imposing block were branded ”deplorable” by the Perth Civic Trust, which said: ”It is an impressive frontage and part of a building of historic significance, which if not scheduled should be.”
The Scottish Civic Trust and the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland were also vehemently opposed to the proposal.
Meanwhile, it has emerged another prominent town centre site sold by the council could become housing.
The former Caledonian Primary School was another at which the For Sale signs were mounted as the authority sold off excess stock.
The Victorian building failed to attract a buyer on the open market, despite its prime location, after it was closed in 2009 when the pupils moved to purpose-built accommodation elsewhere.
It is thought plans are in motion for a housing association to take control of the building.
Other council properties still for sale include the former Hill primary in Blairgowrie, Kinross High School and Cherrybank School in Perth.
All are surplus after the council’s multi-million school building project.