By David Jones, surveyor, Hutchings and Thomas, Chartered Surveyors

 

The Admiral building at Queensway in the centre of Newport is now taking meaningful shape.

All the preliminary ground works appear to have been completed and now it seems to be onwards and upwards with two towering cranes working busily away in site.

The Admiral HQ building in Cardiff is scheduled to be completed in 2014 and the one in Newport won’t be far behind.

Now that people can see construction coming out of the ground you can almost feel the renewed confidence.

All those city types to-ing and fro-ing on the Paddington line are seeing the transformation and taking note.

Enquiries across my desk appear to be getting more frequent and there are constant enquiries about the city and how it is developing, from far and wide. People, investors in particular if they have a viable business proposition, are now making their move.

The new Church House pub at the top of Stow Hill opposite St Woolos is a case in point. The entrepreneur behind that scheme has sensed the potential in the city and gone ahead and made his investment. Initial soundings appear to show that the new business is going well. We can expect more from that investor who has a refreshing confidence in Newport.

Across at Spytty it’s great to hear that a very long last the former garage building opposite Mega bowl is to be brought back to life as a Hyundai dealership and part of Wessex Garages. This has for far too long been a blot on the landscape of Newport Retail Park. The rest of the park is going like a steam train, more projects are in offing with a tasty scheme ready to proceed opposite what was Blockbuster and more than a little likelihood that something will emerge at the former Megabowl.

Clarence House has been given a fresh lease of life under its new owners. The iconic building on the banks of the River Usk in the centre of the city with unrivalled views in all directions is being aggressively marketed and this is now returning results.

The Frairs Walk scheme is progressing although, despite all assurances that it will be going ahead investors are a canny bunch. I don’t think any others will show their hands until they see something emerging from the site in the same way as at Admiral.

And then we have Rodney Parade. Now complete with a new head of hair – well new turf covering at least – the ground is all set to witness league football for the first time in more than 25 years. Make no mistake there’ll be people in the city over the coming months, as a result of this, that have never been to Newport before in their lives.

Sure they’ll be here mainly for the football but that doesn’t stop others from staking their claim to a piece of the action.

For example restaurants, pubs, sandwich bars and cafés could benefit hugely form the spike in visitors on home games. And then there are the other retail outlets which may also see an upturn in trade with, perhaps, one half at the game and the other looking for a couple of hours shopping. There’s no word yet on which if any of the pubs in town is to be the designated for away fans but there’s sure to be keen competition to nab that spot.

Oh, and by the way keep this to yourself, there are some really good freehold deals to be had on commercial property in the city of Newport at present but once more people know the staggering good vale of the prices these are sure to head Northwards. A very tasty pair of properties at 12 & 12a Clytha Park Road with oodles of parking and 2,400 sq ft of internal space and a very short distance form the city centre were recently snapped up at Paul Fosh Auctions for a snip at £190,000.

I have a rather interesting and unique chunk of real estate which’ll be coming on the market very soon in the Gold Tops part of the city so keep you eyes peeled-with the way things are going I don’t expect that one to hang around.

Up the ‘Port