€4m for 44 acres in centre of Navan

With the new homes market in the greater Dublin area steadily rebounding from the property crash and the financial crisis there is likely to be any number of bidders for what is easily one of the best residential sites ever to have come on the market in Navan.

For those unfamiliar with the town, the surprise is that the full 7.8 hectares (44 acres) going for sale are all located within the perimeters of the urban area simply because they form part of the grounds of a large period house, Belmont, belonging to the Spicer family.

The unexpected sale has been prompted by the collapse of the family’s bakery business after a unique tradition that spanned six generations.

Joint agents Lisney and Smith Harrington have secured the approval of receivers to quote a modest €4 million-plus for the land which fronts on to Academy Street on the Dublin road out of Navan but, given that the two sites involved could possibly accommodate between 360 and 400 houses, most builders would jump at the opportunity of buying sites at €10,000 or €11,000 each in such a superb location.

The sale is expected to be of interest to national and Dublin-based developers as well as local housebuilders given that Navan is now seen as a dormitory town with no less than 42 buses running six days a week between Navan and Dublin. Grandiose plans by the last Fianna Fail government to reopen the Dublin-Navan railway line ran out of steam near Dunboyne and has been conveniently forgotten.

The huge expansion of Navan’s housing estates before the property crash largely catered for Dublin commuters. That tradition is expected to continue.

Regretfully, the town has lost all but two or three of its 30-plus furniture factories as well as its carpet factory and now relies on Tara Mines to keep the manufacturing flag flying. The closure of the town's oldest business, Spicers Bakery, after 178 years has been a severe blow.

The housing site going for sale is divided in two, separated by a narrow stretch of land set aside for a planned new road that is unlikely ever to built by Meath County Council. However, the land in question will undoubtedly be of immense interest to the developer buying the Spicer property because of its suitability as a service road into the site.