THE owners of the Sean Graham's bookmaking chain are punting £15 million on attracting new investors into their Belfast city centre office and retail block.
That's what they intend to plough into revamping the prominent seven-storey Oyster House headquarters building on a key city centre junction of Upper Queen's Street and Chichester Street, which they've owned since 2004.
The company - which runs a number of businesses - is keen to provide modern-fitted grade A office space to mid-sized arrivals to the north, and has submitted planning permission for an extensive refurbishment of a block it previously partially-revamped but which has since grown tired.
As well as providing various suites of office space, Oyster House is also home to on-street retail and restaurant tenants including Rio Brazil, Home, Stix & Stones and Centra.
Lisa McAteer, a director at CBRE, which is acting on behalf of the developer, said: "The refurbishment of such a prominent block is key to unlocking ideally located office space in the city centre and will be a step towards filling the gap in the grade A market, which is crying out for space."
She added: “Most of the existing office space in the city is fragmented across various remote buildings and cannot accommodate companies wishing to secure large floor space for sizeable teams or to allow for future expansion.
"And if passed, this redevelopment of Oyster House will total 161,800 sq ft with extensive floor plates of 23,800 sq ft."
The planned work includes refurbishment of the ground floor office lobby and common areas throughout to create international standard reception and open environments, as well as an extension to the rear of each floor to provide large sized floor plates of around 23,800 sq ft.
Ciaran Deazley, director at Like Architects, which has designed the extension, said: “This upgrade to Oyster House will convert it into an attractive, functional, modern space.
"The considerable extension that is being undertaken will make the scheme a much more eye-catching prospect to firms in need of Grade A office space.
“The key aspects of the refurbishment are the extensions to increase the floor plates, allowing for bigger teams within a firm to be situated across one floor, which is usually a key stipulation of companies in need of grade A space.
"If the planning proposal submitted is passed swiftly, then this will be a development that is much-needed in Belfast.”
