THE LOSS of Ormston House as a city centre exhibition space seems increasingly likely with confirmation this week that a deal is about to be done to sell the building.
New-York based Cerberus Capital Managment, one of the companies involved in controversial ‘vulture fund ‘ property purchases, currently owns the property and says it is two weeks away from signing a deal to sell it.
Metropolitan Mayor Daniel Butler had been involved in negotiations with agents for Cerberus in a bid to de-couple the two units being used for artistic space from the sale of the three-unit property. He said that this was to give the council or some other public body a chance to buy the properties.
Mayor Butler said he is “very disappointed” that the negotiations did not bear fruit but says he will not give up hope of retaining the artistic space. He now plans to contact the buyers to see if they would consider a lease agreement or a possible sell-on.
“I won’t give up on this until every avenue has been exhausted,” he said.
There was a huge swell of support for retaining the facility among local artists and politicians when it was revealed that the building was for sale on the open market.
Mayor James Collins called on Culture Minister Josepha Madigan to step in but was told the department does not have a budget for such capital investment.
Ormston House has hosted 287 events and worked with 296 artists since it opened as an exhibition space in 2011.
