Council clearing out 1-5 High Street offices ahead of Perth hotel bid
Council bosses want to sell off furniture from their former offices in Perth amid plans for a controversial hotel redevelopment.
The tables and chairs have been stored at 1-5 High Street for nearly 30 years.
But the building is poised to become a new 'boutique hotel' after Perth and Kinross Council agreed to sell it to a developer for £1.
And with nowhere else to store the items, officers suggest sending them to auction.
They say the proceeds can then be reinvested in the city's Common Good Fund.
Councillors will be asked to approve the proposal next week.
It comes after The Courier revealed concerns about the status of the 1-5 High Street development.
Henley Homes, the council's original preferred bidder, collapsed with debts of £67 million.
The council went on to sign a development lease with Rogue City Hotels, part of the Henley group.
But a spokesperson for Rogue City told us it 'no longer exists' after another of its venues, the Dunalastair Hotel Suites at Kinloch Rannoch, went into administration with debts of £4m.
And it's another company, fronted by two former Henley Homes officers, that has since submitted a planning application to turn the former council offices into a 74-bed hotel.
The fate of the furniture will be decided by the council's Perth Common Good Fund committee on Monday.
Some of the items are said to have cultural significance, while others have either limited or no value.
And a report to councillors explains: 'Neither the council nor Culture Perth and Kinross have sufficient room to continue to store this furniture, most of which has been stored in the present location since 1996.'
By law the council has to consult the public first if it wants to sell Common Good property.
It outlined the plans on its consultation hub website for eight weeks at the end of last year.
One member of the public said they wanted the council to retain 10 Baillies' chairs.
The only other response was from a councillor, who said at least one of the crested chairs should be kept.
Council officers suggest keeping two of the best examples and sending the others to auction.
'It is recommended that the two crested chairs are retained as these hold a particular value to the history of the former Burgh Council,' says the report.
'These chairs were former Baillie chairs, and they are of civic value, which was noted in the consultation responses.'
The deal for 1-5 High Street, Perth, has been controversial from the outset.
Perth and Kinross Council came under fire for the decision to sell the B-listed landmark to Henley Homes for £1, while renting office space at Pullar House.
It is also supposed to be footing the bill for £1.9m in heritage funding.
At the time it was said the £7m project would create around 200 jobs and pump £1.12m into the local economy each year.
The development lease means the £1 sale would go through after work is completed.
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