A number of city centre properties have been left neglected for years, some for decades, and many are listed as ‘at risk’.

In the second part of a Spotlight investigation into neglected city centre properties, we highlight sites that have been in long-term decline and require urgent attention.

In part one we looked at Sauchiehall Street and properties that are an eyesore and today we look at the other end of the ‘style mile’.

READ MORE: Spotlight: Glasgow eyesores that need the owners to take responsibility

The Trongate, east of Argyle Street, has for many years suffered as the big retail names focused their presence on Buchanan Street at the heart of the so-called 'style mile'.

After Marks and Spencer in Argyle Street, at the end of the pedestrian precinct, the streetscape changes and gap sites and derelict buildings dominate.

A large development is under way at Candleriggs and Trongate on the site the was once earmarked for Selfridges, until the London store finally pulled out.

But surrounding that site sit a number of buildings that have been empty for years.

READ MORE:Homes, houseboats and a concert space as new Govan Graving Docks plan revealed

Dees of Trongate, one of the city centre’s oldest surviving independent shops, is on the ground floor in premises the clothing store has occupied for decades.

The upper floors are empty and boarded up.

The at risk register notes the upper floors are at risk but the ground floor, which is occupied, is not.

Across Hutcheson Street, in the old Royal Bank of Scotland building, plans for apartments have yet to materialise and the building has a for sale sign up.

Glasgow Times:

The Glasgow Times attempted to track down the landowners of the two buildings to ask their plans.

The old Royal Bank building is owned by Caledon Properties who had the application to demolish and build the hotel.

Caledon Properties did not take the opportunity to respond to the Glasgow Times request.

The building at 166-174 Trongate and 2-10 Hutcheson Street is owned by Praxis Trustees Ltd.

It is listed by the Land Registers of Scotland as the trustee of Khushi Unit Trust.

Praxis Trustees are registered to an address in Guernsey and the Glasgow Times was unable to establish contact with the owners.

Across the street the old C&A building has been empty since TJ Hughes moved out and into the St Enoch Centre.

Several buildings in the Trongate area are listed on the Buildings at Risk Register.

The above site at 174 Trongate is one of them, various plans from 1990 onward amounted to nothing.

Across the street buildings beside the derelict TJ Hughes store are also on the at risk register.

A four-storey building at 137 Trongate, described as a four-storey free renaissance warehouse, is noted to be in poor repair since 1996.

Ownership of the building is stated by the at risk register as “unverified”.

Yards along the street at 143 to 147, a two-storey flat-roofed former tearoom building is a blight on the street.

Full planning permission and listed building consent for 99 serviced studio apartments and ground-floor retail encompassing demolition of both sites was conditionally approved in 2010 but nothing has happened since.

Morrisons Holdings are noted as the owners. The firm is registered to an address in Hertfordshire. The Glasgow Times was unable to make contact.

Nearby in Queen Street, a building is in need of serious upgrading.

From street level the property at 31 to 45 Queen Street, which houses Tam Shepherds Trick Shop on the ground floor, has several empty units and the upper floors look to be vacant.

Glasgow Times:

The frontage of the building is in a visible state of disrepair and such is the long-term nature of neglect there is vegetation growing out of the fabric of the building.

The building is owned in part by Carrick Properties, another firm registered in Guernsey which the Glasgow Times were unable to establish contact with.

Glasgow Times:

The face of the city centre is expected to change dramatically in the next 10 to 20 years with plans to attract more people to live in the streets as the council pursues a mixed-use model, moving away from the reliance on shopping as big name stores move out or reduce the number of stores they have.

Key to the plan is repurposing existing buildings into homes or leisure facilities.

The upper floors of many buildings in the city centre are vacant and have been for decades.

There is an issue, however, with retaining old buildings as VAT rules can make it cheaper for developers to demolish and rebuild than it is to refurbish and re-purpose existing properties.

While the transformation of the city centre will take a long time, there is an issue with the current state of properties and the general look and feel of the main city centre streets.

The council said it will be looking to engage with owners to make improvements in the meantime to avoid decline and deterioration. 

Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council said in the Glasgow Times the council is seeking powers to take action on owners who do not maintain their properties.

READ MORE: Susan Aitken: The council will look to come after property owners who neglect city sites

She said: “Like me, I’m sure many Glaswegians are sick to the back teeth of property owners who allow their vacant and derelict buildings and land to blight our streets.

“There are complex economic and business reasons why plans for some sites haven’t progressed but that’s no excuse for leaving them as eyesores.

“Property and landowners must step up to the plate and help improve the city centre experience - and we’re seeking new powers for the council to penalise them if they don’t.”