£1 million asking price for Lisnagelvin leisure site

With offers in the region of £1,000,000 invited, the former Lisnagelvin leisure centre site in Derry’s Waterside is back on the market.

Advertised as a “prime redevelopment opportunity extending to approximately 2.75 acres” the site is being sold by Lambert Smith Hampton, a major British commercial and real estate consultancy and agency.

In the accompanying literature, Derry is described to potential buyers as “recognised as the ‘Capital of the North West’.

It continues: “Derry anchors the only cross-border functional economic city region of its scale, extending into the Republic of Ireland.

“The city serves as the primary sub-regional economic hub for a wider cross-border City region, encompassing more than 350,000 people.”

According to the advertisement, the site’s “subject lands are held Freehold under Folio LY124420.

In terms of planning, it says: “The current planning context is provided by Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Local Development Plan (LDP 2032) Strategy, adopted in July 2025”.

“The land sits on unzoned land within the development limits, and there are no current or historic planning applications pertaining to the site.”

Owned by Derry City and Strabane District Council, the leisure centre opened in 1980. It closed in 2015 and was replaced by the Foyle Arena in St Columb’s Park.

It was reported in January 2024 a buyer, believed to be a Europe-wide supermarket chain, had been found for the site, following an “extensive public procurement and marketing exercise”.

Prior to this announcement, the redevelopment of the derelict site had been put out to tender by Council. According to the tender notice, Council intended to “sell the site by way of long lease to the appointed developer, in accordance with and subject to the terms of a development agreement”.

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The contract pack which included the lease and development agreement was issued to the prospective purchaser on November 2, 2023.

In September 2024, Council and the prospective purchaser agreed to extend the tender validity period until January 9, 2025.

However, at January 2025’s meeting of Council’s Business and Culture committee meeting, Council officers sought members’ approval to “withdraw from the procurement process” with the prospective purchaser unless the contract was signed and returned by Friday, January 31, 2025.

In addition, it was agreed Council officers would re-initiate the disposal process, draft tender/sales pack, and appoint a commercial agent.

The Derry News understood, Derry City and Strabane District Council believed extending the tender validity period indefinitely was not a “sustainable” position for it to take; the possibility of a “successful challenge” from a third party became a more realistic possibility the longer the tender validity period was extended.

A spokesperson for the Council said in January it was unable to provide a comment at this time as this is a live procurement issue and is commercially sensitive, other than to say that it is continuing to work closely with the preferred bidder in relation to the contractual requirements required to conclude the sale of this site.