A former public toilet block in Westbrook will go under the hammer for a third time.
The block, on Westbrook Prom below Seaview Terrace, is due to be sold via an online auction from whoobid on February 21.
A guide price of £230,000 has been set and at least one current bid has taken that to £230,500.
The block was previously auctioned in 2015, where it gained a final price of £215,000 – way above the £30,000 guide price.
It then went back for auction in 2018 with a price of £400,000 reflecting the granting of planning permission in 2017 for the build of a three-bed home and ‘beach cave’.
It is within the Margate Seafront Conservation Area.
The block is enveloped by the Margate Seawall and planners for the approved application said heritage research suggested embedding of the site into the Seawall is a strong concept to develop a ‘Seawall House’.
The site is now back up for bids once more with an online auction which will run for three hours on February 21. Properties may be sold prior to public auction if an offer is accepted by the vendors.
Note: According to planning documents permission for the build was subject to work starting within three years of the decision date in October 2017, making it advisable for bidders to check it still exists.
Wonder if some rich benefactor of wokeness might not purchase it for the Dem Urban Cookie Collective lot. They take the pee, so it would be rather apt.
Taking the ****.
Seawall house… Nice floods
Oops water works.
Why are they selling public toilets.
To be fair on TDC, they aren’t selling all the toilets. Some are just boarded/bricked up.
Let’s get this straight:
It sold in 2015 for £215,000.
It went back on the market in 2018 for £400,000 with planning permission.Did it sell?
Now it is on the market for £230,000 and may have a bid for £230,500 in hand.
Is this not the old Thanet shuffle, where sites are bought and sold, with no improvement for years. I do think a development land tax and/or enhanced stamp duty/ capital gain levy is overdue.
Land is bought and sold with no dividend to the community.That dividend should be held on trust and made available for worthwhile community projects. I know Govt is eyeing up this activity to pay for Covid, so prosper while ye may, because at long last some tax might be paid.
Please don’t say it will harm entrepreneurial activity, because who benefits from buying and selling a disused toilet block, certainly not the community.
Could be another one of those Shagpile Sandy things.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-21632631
Can’t find evidence of a sale in 2018 but am unable to confirm non-sale.
TDC got a very good price in 2015. You should be asking them, where the funds went.
I certainly don’t believe a 15k gain some 5 years later, is going to leave much profit after Auction fees and planning fees.