The former Social Security building in La Motte Street has gone back on the property market – minus a building at the back which will remain a Health-run centre.
Philip Le Feuvre House, together with Huguenot House on one side and 38 La Motte Street – the former La Motte Street Boys School and Youth Club – on the other, was first advertised for sale last summer, with expressions of interest sought.
As Express revealed at the time, government was asking for at least £3m for the 1.5-acre site, with the former Social Security headquarters and Huguenot House offices ring-fenced for affordable homes.
However, the site was then taken off the market for a period but is now back on – minus 38 La Motte Street, former education buildings dating to the mid-19th century which once housed La Motte Boys School and were later occupied by the youth service.
The Diner to stay
This is because, at the back of it, Health-run a facility called The Diner, which provides Islanders with a mental-health diagnosis with a “safe and supportive” place to help them with their recovery.
The department made its own expression of interest for the site and the building housing The Diner will now be kept in public ownership.
“We were looking at selling the whole site, including the old youth club, as I describe it [38 La Motte Street],” Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan explained at a recent Scrutiny hearing.
“At the back of La Motte Street we have a very important function called The Diner. It is used for a lot of mental-health patients and the Health department has been given a licence to use that part of the site to continue that service.”
He added: “There will be significant investment required for the area that will be retained by the Government. Having visited The Diner, I can see huge benefits on the location; it is in town but not the middle of town, so it is quite discreet. That is a great opportunity that we shouldn’t give up.”
Asked why the sale process had stalled, Mr Jehan replied: “One of the expressions of interest was from our own department to provide a much-needed facility for mental-health patients, so the decision was made [to retain it].
“If there is a change, then you have to go back out [for sale] again, with a different option.”
A park, hotel… or temporary school?
The Infrastructure Minister said that while the site for sale was earmarked for affordable homes in the Bridging Island Plan – the rulebook against which all planning decisions are judged – expressions of interest had included creating a park, a car park and a hotel.
Deputy David Warr, meanwhile, recently proposed using Philip Le Feuvre House as a temporary school while existing town schools are renovated.
This is an alternative proposal to the Government’s plan to build a new town primary school at Gas Place.
The La-Motte-Street-based offices were first earmarked for affordable housing when former Chief Minister John Le Fondré and ex-government CEO Charlie Parker initiated a ‘downsizing’ project to move nearly 2,000 employees into a single new headquarters, while disposing of nearly £30m-worth of properties.
At the time, the then-Senator Le Fondré expressed a preference for Andium Homes to take on the Philip Le Feuvre House site, which was home to Customer and Local Services and Revenue Jersey.