{"id":581222,"date":"2026-05-13T06:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T06:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/581222\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T06:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T06:36:10","slug":"former-downtown-and-cool-fm-headquarters-on-the-market-for-425k-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/581222\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Downtown and Cool FM headquarters on the market for \u00a3425k \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former headquarters of Cool FM and Downtown Radio is up for sale, just weeks after Bauer Media moved into its new Belfast base.<\/p>\n

The German-owned radio group, which also owns Greatest Hits NI, Hits Radio NI and Downtown Country, relocated to Belfast Harbour\u2019s City Quays 3 office tower on the Lagan waterfront at the end of April.<\/p>\n

It ended a 50-year relationship with its former home in Newtownards.<\/p>\n

Downtown Radio first took to the air from the Kiltonga Industrial Estate in the Co Down town in March 1976, becoming the north\u2019s first commercial radio station.<\/p>\n

\"Live:<\/a>\"First<\/a><\/p>\n

Cool FM started broadcasting 14 years later.<\/p>\n

\"BauerBauer Media Audio’s former office building and recording studio (bottom right) in the Kiltonga Industrial Estate, Newtownards. <\/p>\n

The two buildings on the western outskirts of Newtownards are now on the market for \u00a3425,000.<\/p>\n

Property agency Colliers said the 1.2 acre site has redevelopment potential within the largely industrial location.<\/p>\n

The sale includes Bauer Media\u2019s 7,260 sq ft former recording studio building and a 4,305 sq ft office building, which are linked by a glazed walkway.<\/p>\n

The site sits next to a number of established business and manufacturing operations, including Lakeland Diaries, ThyssenKrupp, Bridgedale Outdoor, Archem NI, PiP Chemicals, The Stove Yard and Pattons Bakery.<\/p>\n

Cool FM and Downtown were acquired by the Hamburg-based Bauer Media group in 2007.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1875, the family-run German multimedia conglomerate owns a huge portfolio of publications and stations across Europe, including Today FM in Ireland and Absolute Radio in the UK.<\/p>\n

Bauer\u2019s new Belfast office is spread across 6,500 sq ft on the 14th floor of City Quays 3.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest media company to relocate its operations to the harbour office estate.<\/p>\n

Clarendon Dock and City Quays are already home to Mediahuis, UTV and Bauer\u2019s rival radio station U105.<\/p>\n

The latter, which is ultimately owned by the Rupert Murdoch-founded News Corp, last week confirmed the departure of five presenters following a stalemate over new contract negotiations.<\/p>\n

\"AtBelfast Harbour’s City Quays 3 (centre) rises above City Quays 2 (right), home to UTV and U105. <\/p>\n

In a short statement, the radio station ended two weeks of speculation after regular presenters Denise Watson, David Johnson, Linda Cullen, Rick Nugent and Stephen Woods disappeared from the airwaves.<\/p>\n

The station has declined to comment on further speculation surrounding a potential sale of the business.<\/p>\n

Recently published accounts for U105 reveal the City Quays 2-based station returned to profit last year, despite revenue falling by 15.7%.<\/p>\n

The media company made a narrow profit of \u00a381,000 on a turnover of \u00a32.29 million for the year ending June 29 2025.<\/p>\n

It followed a loss of \u00a3354,000 in 2024 on a turnover of \u00a32.72m.<\/p>\n

U105 is part of Dublin-based Onic (formerly Wireless Ireland), which includes a portfolio of regional Irish stations such as 96FM and LMFM.<\/p>\n

The company is ultimately owned by the Delaware-based News Corp, now controlled by Rupert Murdoch\u2019s son Lachlan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former headquarters of Cool FM and Downtown Radio is up for sale, just weeks after Bauer Media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[198659,198660,96,128,63822,2186,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-581222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-belfast-harbour","tag-commercial-property","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-newtownards","tag-radio","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}