Several developers are understood to have shown interest in one of the best seafront sites to have come on the market in many years. The 1.75-acre site at Queen's Parade, in Bangor, Co Down, is being offered for sale to developers, with the option of using a variety of means of payment, by North Down Borough Council.

The successful developers can choose to buy out the long leasehold on the site or repay the council by building a theatre or other leisure amenity and handing it over to the council.

The site has major potential for apartment development with a substantial ground-floor leisure element at Queen's Parade. It looks directly over the Bangor Marina, which has a capacity for 560 boats.

Denis Myles, of the council's agents, Myles Danker, said the apartment market on the north Down coast was undergoing a boom, with units fetching between £95,000 and £240,000 sterling in recent years. Apartments in a development in the old Crawfordsburn Hospital, a short distance from Bangor on a parkland site overlooking Belfast Lough, are selling for £140,000 upwards. Penthouse apartments with 2,000 sq ft are expected to sell at around £400,000.

Mr Myles said following an initial phase of competition, the council will draw up a shortlist for more comprehensive proposals during the summer.

The winner may be able to pay the council by building a civic theatre, or other indoor civic amenity, on the Queen's Parade or elsewhere in the town, Mr Myles said. The town has not had a dedicated theatre since the closure of the Little Theatre several years ago.

An outline feasibility study of the Queen's Parade site carried out by architects WDR & RT Taggart on behalf of the council envisaged a theatre, exhibition hall, hotel, tourist information centre, restaurants, bars and shop with car-parking to the rear of the site.