The state of iconic Keelmen's Hospital site in Newcastle could limited the interest of potential purchasers

Cllr Pauline Allen (Liberal Democrats) tonight raised with Newcastle City Council:

Residents in Newcastle are rightly very proud of the number and quality of
listed buildings we have in the city. However, there are concerns being
raised about some of these properties, especially the council owned
Keelmen's Hospital. The frontage of Keelmen's Hospital isn't being
maintained in the way that it deserves. There is vegetation growing out of
the walls and this gives the appearance of a run down and neglected
building. Keelmen's Hospital is also being marketed for sale jointly with the
Salvation Army building next to it. Does the Cabinet Member not agree with
me that this strategy severely limits the number of potential purchasers who
are likely to come forward to take on this iconic building?

The response was :
Keelmen's Hospital has been vacant since 2009 - however it is regularly
inspected for security purposes and essential repair. The property has
recently had some clearance work carried out to remove vegetation and a
roof repair and further works will be carried out as and when necessary. In
light of your comment above, Property will visit the property again to see if
any further clearance works are required.
We have received an offer for Keelmens previously but never reached a
position where agreement was made to dispose of the property. We are
aware that the adjoining Mens Palace was marketed by The Salvation Army
in 2015 and while an offer was received and accepted, it also did not
proceed to completion, viability issues are stated to be the cause of the
aborted sale.
A marketing appraisal was carried out in 2018 on the potential of jointly
marketing the properties. The appraisal indicated that the marketing of the
two properties together could assist in achieving planning consent as the
scaling of the development would allow developers to maximise material
costs potentially increasing residual value.
The Salvation Army were also keen to jointly market the properties as they
also see the benefit of allowing the two sites to come to market at the same
time.
It is hoped that both Keelmens and the Mens Palace will be brought forward
as a comprehensive development which will maintain the character and
integrity of both of these listed buildings. While the properties are being
jointly marketed, the particulars do stress that the properties are also
available individually.