Dunloe Ewart has bought the 16-acre Howden Sirocco site in Belfast for £23 million sterling (€35.4 million), or £1.4 million an acre.

It has already paid a £1.5 million deposit. The balance will be paid at the end of next July when Howden Sirocco moves to another site.

The site lies on the east side of the River Lagan, facing Belfast's prime development, Lanyon Place, and is within the Laganside Corporation's regeneration area. It has almost 1,000 feet of frontage to the river.

Mr Noel Smyth, Dunloe Ewart's chairman, said the development would cost about £250 million. Dunloe Ewart is likely to bring in a local partner.

The group's Northern Ireland director, Mr Barry Gilli gan, said: "Buying this site gives Dunloe Ewart an opportunity to regenerate an underutilised area in a prime location. This site has tremendous potential, which we intend to unlock in the coming years. Our plan will be to propose a mixed-use development for the site that will include residential, business, retail and leisure developments. As with Lanyon Place, we intend to create a landmark development that will genuinely add to Belfast's changing cityscape."

Mr Smyth said the group expected to develop the first phase - residential and offices - by the beginning of 2001. Five companies were invited to tender. Mr Smyth said: "It is one of the last opportunities there will be in Belfast to acquire a site of this size with river frontage in such a strategically important location".

Dunloe Ewart, in another Belfast development, announced in July a joint venture with John Laing Property and MEPC to create a £400 million mixed-use retail, leisure and residential development in the city centre. But the development is competing against two other projects for Belfast Regeneration Office approval.

Land Securities/Deramore Development and MDC plan to construct similar complexes nearby.

Dunloe Ewart's latest figures showed a 510 per cent surge in pre-tax profit to €19.8 million in the six months ended June 30th, 1999.