Unprecedented demand for prime retail space in Belfast is expected to boost the prospects for Dunloe-Ewart's proposed £150 million shopping centre on a key five-acre site in the city centre. Dunloe-Ewart is awaiting the outcome of an examination of its proposed 400,000 sq ft city centre shopping centre by London-based consultants Jonas Divers, which has been appointed by the British Department of the Environment (DoE) to examine retail development in the city centre.

There is understood to be strong interest in the Dunloe-Ewart scheme from a number of potential anchor tenants from both the Republic and UK. It is known that Roches Stores, which is about to open a store at the Quays Shopping Centre, Newry, is interested in expanding in the North. There is also speculation locally that UK store groups, such as John Lewis, House of Fraser and Harvey Nichols, may also be interested. The consultants have been appointed by the Belfast Regeneration Office, part of the DoE which has responsibility for the redevelopment of the city centre, where many of the secondary shopping areas have fallen into serious decline.

The consultants are also understood to be examining proposals for a 300,000 sq ft extension to the rear of the Castle Court shopping centre and for a smaller shopping centre in the secondary shopping area around Victoria Square.

Dunloe-Ewart, however, has assembled what some agents see as the best prime shopping site in the North. The company is understood to have acquired around 85 per cent of the site fronting on to Royal Avenue, directly opposite Castle Court, stretching back to Donegall Street, bounded on the north by Garfield Street and to the south by Rosemary Street. It is being advised by Keith Shiells of the Lambert Smith Hampton agency.

To succeed, the proposed development would require the closure of lower North Street which has become badly dilapidated over the past two decades. It would also have to take into consideration the impact on two important listed buildings, the First Presbyterian Church in Rosemary Street and the Northern Bank building, fronting on to Bridge Street.

Importantly, the proposed centre would provide a link between the prime shopping area of Royal Avenue and Donegall Place to the Cathedral area, which is the centre of major development plans by the Belfast Regeneration Office. It has proposed that the Cathedral area, which includes the arts department of Ulster University, will become Belfast's answer to Dublin's Temple Bar. The acquisition of the DunloeEwart site started about 1992 when the then Ewart Plc bought a surface car-park on lower North Street to begin the portfolio. According the Dunloe-Ewart director with responsibility for development in the north, Northern Ireland, Barry Gilligan, who has been responsible for the site acquisition, said: "the attraction we see about the site is that it will provide a strong physical link between the prime retail area and the Cathedral Quarter". Dunloe-Ewart's plans appear to be supported by what local agents describe as unprecedented demand for prime retail in the city.

There has been no pure letting of a retail unit in the prime area from Royal Avenue to Donegall Place and Castle Place in almost two years when a Zone "A" rental level of £185 was achieved, putting the prime Belfast sites on a par with Grafton Street. Local agents predict that the next prime unit which comes on the market in Belfast city centre will achieve a Zone "A" rental in excess of £200 a sq ft.

This is supported by the rental level achieved in the last significant letting inside Castle Court where Baby Gap is understood to have paid a premium of £65,000 and a Zone "A" rental of £180.

The success of Castle Court has led its owners, MEPC, to apply for the extension back into the Smithfield area, which would give the centre a total floor space of around 700,000 sq ft.

Local agents say it seems almost certain that Belfast will have a major new shopping centre development.

The Valuation and Lands Agency (VLA) in Belfast, which provides independent commentary on the local property market, has reported that there are requirements for 27,000 square metres of retail space in the city centre.