A Waterford councillor has called on the local authority to resume its attempts to purchase a vacant apartment block in the city centre.

Clarendon Court on Penrose Lane has been empty since 2012 after its management company was wound up.

Waterford Council tried enacting a compulsory purchase order on it last year.

However this failed because of objections from several of the apartments’ owners.

Now Fine Gael’s John Cummins wants the council to reopen a CPO for the the building before the end of the month.

He welcomed that the Council is to use CPO’s across the County, which he said needs to be expedited to take the many vacant properties, lying idle around the City and County.

Specifically on the Clarendon Court apartment, it said it will be advertised in quarter one and he asked where the council was at in relation to that.

Director of Housing Ivan Grimes says a new party has recently shown interest in the building.

He said the aim had been to re-advertise the CPO process by the end of the month but there has been a recent development where an interested party has
contacted the Council.     A meeting with that party has been arranged for early April to discuss the options but assuming that there are no options agreed the Council will
immediately publish the CPO. Mr. Grimes said this was a high priority project for the council and they will be pursuing it.