Belfast City Council agrees formal bid to buy historic Assembly Rooms

Built in 1769, the Assembly Rooms building is located at the corner of North Street and Waring Street in Belfast

Belfast City Council has formally agreed to try to buy the Assembly Rooms in Belfast and take the historic building out of private ownership.

The cost of the planned purchase, and some adjacent land, is thought to be in the region of £2.7m.

After months of talks behind-the-scenes, the 60-member council agreed the plan at a meeting on Monday night.

At the meeting, councillors expressed hope that the purchase of the Assembly Rooms would help to rejuvenate the city.

Michael Long said he hoped it would "transform" the city centre and promote the history of Belfast.

The building was the site of the famous Belfast Harp Festival in 1792, which led to the preservation of the ancient tradition of Irish harping.

Alliance councillor Michael Long said he hoped it would "transform" the city centre and promote the history of Belfast.

Green Party councillor Brian Smyth said much more needed to be done.

"This is only the end of the beginning," he said.

Séamas de Faoite of the SDLP agreed, saying "there's a much longer journey to go to make sure we get the city centre right".

The historic building belongs to Castlebrooke Investments, which is behind the delayed Tribeca development in Belfast city centre.

Built in 1769, the Assembly Rooms are at the corner of North Street and Waring Street.

In spite of the building's historical and cultural significance, it has fallen out of use in the past two decades.

The Assembly Rooms have been placed on a list of global 'at risk' heritage sites by the World Monuments Fund.

The proposed deal is confidential but in July, when a City Hall committee recommended making the purchase, some detail emerged.

A council spokesperson said the Assembly Rooms and associated lands included "part of the North Street car park, 5-9 North Street and Braddell's Building, a grade B1 listed building at 11 North Street".

The move to buy the building has been backed by all of the main parties at Belfast City Hall.

A Castlebrooke spokesperson told BBC News NI they have been working with Belfast City Council for some time to advance the regeneration of the North Street/ Donegall Street area and they "are very glad to see the decision to purchase the Assembly Rooms endorsed by Council this evening".

The statement added: "We have been frustrated that market conditions have prevented us delivering our previous schemes for this historically important part of the city but we are now preparing new plans in collaboration with the city council which embrace the historic significance of the Assembly rooms.

"Ww will be consulting widely on these new proposals in the very near future."