Former Cartamundi factory in Waterford guiding at €17.85m

Facility of 246,646sq ft on self-contained 13-acre site served for decades as production facility for Monopoly and other board games

The former Cartamundi facility at the IDA Industrial Estate on Cork Road in Waterford

Agent CBRE is guiding a price of €17.85 million for the former Cartamundi Ireland production facility in Co Waterford.

Located in the IDA Industrial Estate on Cork Road, the property extends to 22,914sq m (246,646sq ft) and incorporates ancillary office accommodation of 1,023sq m (11,010sq ft). Clear internal heights in the facility range from 4.6m to 11m and loading access is provided via 19 dock levellers and multiple grade-level doors to separate elevations. The facility is of steel-frame construction and sits on a secure, self-contained site of 5.26 hectares (13 acres), with three acres of this undeveloped, offering potential purchasers the opportunity to expand via a large yard at the building’s gable end or to extend the existing warehouse section of the facility.

Prior to its recent closure, the property had served for many years as the Irish production facility for board games such as Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Connect 4 and Cluedo under three different owners, namely MB Games, Hasbro and most recently, Cartamundi. The last of these blamed a post-Covid slump in demand for games and rising costs when it announced its decision to close the plant with the loss of 234 jobs earlier this year.

The former Cartamundi facility is 3.4km to the south of the N25/R710 dual-carriageway junction, which provides quick access to the M9 motorway linking Waterford and Dublin. Waterford city is 4.5km away, while the immediate area is occupied in the main by retail, warehousing, production and manufacturing facilities, with residential development and Southeast Technological University (SETU) to the east of the property.

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The immediate area is home to a number of well-established healthcare and pharmaceutical companies including Bausch & Lomb, Teva Pharmaceuticals, West Pharmaceutical and Sanofi. There are also multiple trade, storage and logistics-related occupiers including Chadwicks, Bolands, U-Store It, Store-All Logistics and Waterford Stanley based in the area.

Stephen Mellon of CBRE’s industrial and logistics division says: “This property offers an opportunity for owner-occupiers and investors alike to secure a substantial high-profile fully serviced property in a market where there are currently very challenging supply issues. The facility offers a turnkey building with room for expansion at a fraction of the cost and in a much shorter time frame than a greenfield build. The location benefits from a superb road network and an excellent workforce catchment, with both a university and numerous high-profile businesses already located in the immediate area.”

Ronald Quinlan

Ronald Quinlan

Ronald Quinlan is Property Editor of The Irish Times