Belfast’s Odyssey complex changes hands for £105m

Dublin solicitor and property developer Noel Smyth has agreed a deal to buy the Belfast Odyssey Pavilion and IMAX cinema for a sum which is reported to be between £105 and £110m. Peter Curistan chairman of the Sheridan Group which developed the Odyssey and IMAX confirmed that he was in detailed negotiations to sell the properties in a deal which also includes the Tannery Building in Kings Street, Belfast. Within the deal Sheridan will retain its currently held operational units in the Pavilion and continue its joint-venture arrangement with SMG (Europe) Ltd which manages the Odyssey Arena on behalf of Odyssey Trust. Curistan said that the deal would release “major equity which we plan to make available for investment in further schemes in Belfast. “These could include the Belfast Stadium project at Ormeau Park, for which we have been short-listed; but we also have a number of other potential sites in mind. “We also remain totally focused on our legal proceedings against Laganside Corporation and the Dept of Social Development to secure the Queen’s Quay development contract which is being denied us despite having been granted preferred developer status on the strength of our proposed scheme”. Alburn, Smyth’s property development and investment company, is already engaged in Belfast and last year submitted an outline planning application for a mixed-use development involving 35,000 sq ft of offices and about 200 residential units on a site overlooking the M1 Motorway, between, Blacks Road and Finaghy Road North in Belfast, the site is part of the former Ford factory. It also owns properties in London, Glasgow and Dublin and earlier this year completed a commercial mortgage-backed securitisation of its £250m UK office portfolio in a deal with investment bank Rothschild.