The Jefferson Smurfit Group has secured £16 million for the former Semperit plant at Killeen Road, Dublin 10 - £9 million more than it paid for it only a year ago. The new owner is Harcourt Developments, the large property company headed by Pat Doherty, which plans to merge the complex with its adjoining Park West Business. The Semperit plant has more than 550,000 sq ft of buildings on a site of 43 acres. Most of the buildings are steel framed with a good eaves height. The earliest parts of it were built about 30 years ago and the remainder was added on in subsequent years.

Harcourt plans to retain and modernise about 70 per cent of the buildings and to divide them into about four separate units. Several companies are currently looking to purchase extensive plants adjacent to the new road network in west Dublin. Park West and the Semperit property will have obvious appeal to many companies because their strategic location close to the interchange of the M50 and the Naas Road.

Hassett estate agents handled the sale of the Semperit complex, which also includes more than 40,000 sq ft of offices.

The amalgamation of the two properties will bring Park West up to more than 200 acres. About 20 acres previously used by Semperit will be developed by Mr Doherty's company. Already, more than 700,000 sq ft of distribution and warehousing buildings have either been let or sold at the park over the past three years. Units are renting for between £6 and £7.50 per sq ft and selling for £60 to £65 per sq ft. Four more buildings are under construction - two of them 75,000 sq ft, another 40,000 sq ft and the fourth with 20,000 sq ft - and sale and lease terms have been agreed on the next phase of the park with about 500,000 sq ft of three-storey business space. Harcourt Developments has an extensive property portfolio in Ireland including the very successful Galway shopping centre, as well as shopping centres in Letterkenny, Portlaoise, Bundoran and Donaghmede, in Dublin.

Mr Doherty is chairman of the company and the other directors include Phillip Flynn (deputy chairman); Bob Langdon (managing director), the TV and radio presenter Mike Murphy (marketing) and Jim Sammon (projects manager).

The Semperit tyre plant closed more than two years ago with the loss of 650 jobs.