RedevelopmentLand:Superquinn is to open a second outlet in Blackrock, Co Dublin, following its purchase of the former Europa garage site on Newtown Avenue for €21 million.

Select Retail Holdings, owner of Superquinn, outbid several housebuilders for the 1.25 acres site which has full planning permission for 60 large apartments, many of them with clear views over Dublin Bay.

Iain Finnegan of selling agent Finnegan Menton, who had been quoting over €17 million for the property, said the high level of interest from developers showed, yet again, that a well located site with an attractive planning permission would always fetch a top price.

Superquinn plans to refurbish its Blackrock supermarket which has a floor area of 2,322sq m (25,000sq ft). The company's decision to "expand its offering in the area" may also have been prompted by a strategy to block either of the two German discounters, Aldi and Lidl, from trading close to it in Blackrock.

Superquinn will have to seek a revised planning for the site which had permission for two five-storey apartment blocks with a sweeping forecourt and 105 car-parking spaces in the basement.