Will Newport ex-police station apartments 'cell' at auction?
PROPERTY experts are helping investors with their enquiries over the sale at auction of a former police station in Newport. The substantial property in the Pill area of the city - which has an interesting past and would have some amazing stories to tell if only it could speak - was converted to 10 luxury flats about 10 years ago and is being sold by Newport-based Paul Fosh Auctions. The Victorian police station, which closed in 1997, for a while was used as a fetish club called The Clink. The club caused an outcry locally with residents saying they witnessed people coming and going from it dressed in their fetish gear. Back in 2002 the South Wales Argus reported that the building was set to become a house with restrictions in place to stop it being used as a club again. The then owners of the property, on Alexandra Road, Pill, were given permission to turn the building into a house by the city council's planning committee. READ MORE:  Plans to turn the old station into four shops and two flats were rejected by the committee in November the previous year on grounds of highway safety. And plans to convert the building into a community centre were also rejected, although an application to change it into a daycare nursery was granted in February 1999. But the nursery proposal never became a reality. Sean Roper, of Paul Fosh Auctions, said: "There is plenty of evidence to suggest that this would be an ideal investment property as a number of the apartments have well-established tenants. "The former police station building has had an excellent upgrade and is well maintained and managed. It is situated to the southern end of Alexandra Road and close to the A48 Southern Distributor road offering easy access to the M4 east and west. "It's quite an arresting opportunity for someone looking to purchase an established modern apartment block with evidence of an interesting history, in the heart of the city of Newport." The property, which is being listed with a guide price of 340,000-plus, has four, one bedroom apartments, one two bedroom apartment and five studio units. There is car parking and a communal yard. Fully let the Paul Fosh Auctions says the property could return monthly income of 4,895 equating to 58,740 a year. The next Paul Fosh Auctions online sale, at which this property along with some 90-plus others, will be offered for sale, starts at 12 noon on Tuesday, June 8 and ends from 5pm on Thursday, June 10.