Land SaleNavan's success as a retail centre has, as expected, led to a record price being paid for commercial land in the town.

Dublin-based developer Bernard McNamara has paid well in excess of €23 million for a site of three hectares (7.4 acres) which has been newly rezoned for town centre use. It is easily the highest price paid for land in the town. Hamilton Osborne King had been quoting over €2 million an acre for the land but when tenders closed last week, it apparently made over €3 million an acre.

Five developers are understood to have pitched for the land, part of a larger parcel (24.7 acres) of mainly industrial land which has been rezoned for shopping and other town centre uses.

The site just sold extends strategically through the centre of the rezoned area. The owners of Navan Shopping Centre already control a major portion of the rezoned land, which is located within four road frontages off the Trim Road.

The existing town centre is currently being extended to cope with an ever-increasing number of shoppers. Navan is already one of the fastest growing towns in the country and is expected to have a population of up to 60,000 by 2016.

This week's sale comes after a consortium of Fyffes and Lagan Developments paid €20.32 million for 23 acres zoned for retail warehousing off the Navan link road to the proposed N3 motorway. Development of the site is unlikely to go ahead for a considerable number of years because of the continuing controversy over the route of the N3.

In the meantime, Woodies will be hoping to build a new retail warehouse on the former Navan Carpets site of 7.5 acres which it has bought for €10.5 million. About €40 million in funding for the retail park is being provided by the Shipton Group, an investment vehicle used by the Love business family in Cork.