NI property group plans £20m project

Dunloe Ewart expects its Lanyon Place development in Belfast to have a value of £150 million sterling (£169 million) early in the new millennium.

The company announced plans yesterday to spend £20 million on a new 130,000 square foot office development at 9 Lanyon Place which should be completed by December next year.

The company does not currently have a tenant for the office block but chairman Mr Noel Smyth said he expects a British or US company to let the building.

Dunloe Ewart has already been involved in developing the Hilton hotel site, the Waterfront Hall, a British Telecom office and a car park on the site. Most of this work was undertaken by Ewart before it was acquired by Dunloe in March.

Mr Smyth added that the company is now planning two retail and two leisure developments for the four remaining sites at Lanyon Place.

He said these developments will include another 150,000 square feet of office space and a multi-storey car park capable of accommodating more than 600 cars.

The Northern Ireland First Minister, Mr David Trimble, said "advance office blocks" like Dunloe Ewart's would easily attract tenants, mainly because of their location beside the Waterfront Hall.

Mr Smyth said a rent of £12.50 sterling per square foot could be expected for the new office block.

Mr Smyth said the money from the new development will be used to purchase other sites in Northern Ireland, most likely in Belfast.

He said the company is finding it harder to acquire property in Belfast, as Dublin-based companies are coming into the market for the first time.

Mr Smyth said the company is currently close to reaching agreement with several tenants interested in taking space in the business park situated on its 405-acre Cherrywood site in Loughlinstown, Dublin.

However, Mr Smyth declined to comment on the current overall value of Cherrywood. One of the companies understood to be taking space at Cherrywood is an Irish technology firm. Mr Smyth added that the company's land adjacent to Dublin Airport is likely to be developed as a business park.