Over €8m worth of property in Limerick to go under the hammer at celebratory auction

AN ESTIMATED €8m worth of property will go under the hammer in a massive auction next month to celebrate GVM’s 40th anniversary of opening up a Limerick city office.

The auction also coincides with the 63rd birthday of Tom Crosse, Property Director at GVM Auctioneers, who has been there from the very start. It takes place in the Woodlands House Hotel on Wednesday, July 1.

Golden Vale Co-operative Mart (GVM Group) placed their trust in Mr Crosse, who was just 22 at that time, in 1986. The Donohill native had come to Limerick five years earlier where he worked with auctioneer Brian Begley. Mr Crosse liked it so much that he turned down a college place in Dublin to become a secondary school teacher.

“I remember I rang my mother and said, ‘I'm not coming out of Limerick at all. I'm happy with what I'm doing. I love it’. And I've remained in Limerick ever since. I have very, very fond memories of Brian Begley who was a tremendous auctioneer,” said Mr Crosse.

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Five years later in 1986, GVM came knocking on his door and they opened an office in Glentworth Street across from Gleeson’s Spar.

“I would have had very little or no connections in Limerick so I had to develop the business from the ground up which we did with the support of the company. I had great support at the start from GVM’s Michael Moroney, Tom Nelligan and Brendan Danaher.”

The business has grown over the decades to become one of the leading estate agents and auctioneers in Limerick with a staff of 12 including Mr Crosse’s son, Paul.

Mr Crosse (pictured below) recalls selling houses in Caherdavin for £25,000 and being open on Saturdays so people could look at photos of houses on the market on the office wall.

The advent of the internet and later Daft and MyHome changed how they conducted their business.

“We’ve had to adapt to all those different changes over the years but it's been a very, very enjoyable journey.

"I've a great team here that have been involved with us for many, many years like John O’Connell and without them you can't grow a business like we've done.”

They moved offices but stayed on Glentworth Street. To mark GVMs 40th anniversary in the city and his own four decades with the Group, Mr Crosse decided to gather a number of properties together and have a celebratory auction on July 1.

He’ll need to have throat lozenges on hand to sell the estimated €8million worth of property during the day-long event. It is a combination of farms of land and properties on behalf of Limerick City and County Council.

Among the lots up for auction are 220 acres in Elton with joint agent John Flynn; 102 acres in Patrickswell, 17 acres between Patrickswell and Adare and 61.5 acres in Coonagh.

The council properties for sale are a mix of industrial units, town properties and development sites. The offerings collated by GVMs Briain Considine include two warehouses in Galvone Industrial Estate. Residential properties are a period red-brick terrace on Clare Street in the city and a mid-terrace house in Ballingarry.

There is a sizeable development site in Newcastle West and commercial land at Kilmallock Business Park.