The BBC is this afternoon reporting that a major new development in Newry has gotten the green-light from planning authorities, and the go-ahead means Newry’s Warrenpoint Road will see a new development of shops, offices and social housing. The developer of the site is named as Parma Investments Limited which the BBC says is understood to be controlled by Larry Goodman, who most of you will associate with the prefix of “beef baron”. Larry – pictured here with a lionised recap of his career – became a household name in Ireland in the 1990s through his involvement with the Beef Tribunal which investigated improper political links with the beef industry. Since buying his business back out of bank control in the mid 1990s, Larry has apparently gone from strength to strength and is now Ireland’s 15th richest person, worth €750m reportedly. 75-year old Larry and his son Laurence have been involved in a number of property developments through their Parma Developments company, but for all of that Larry appears not to be associated with NAMA.
The development in Newry will see the demolition of the old Greenbank Industrial Estate and the construction of shops including a 100,000 sq ft food “superstore”, cafes, office space and 50 apartments. The BBC reportsNorthern Ireland Minister for Environment Alex Atwood claiming the development will create 1,130 new jobs.
The announcement from Northern Ireland’s Department of Environment is here, which sets out further detail about the development. You should be able to locate the actual planning application here on the Northern Ireland government planning website, but it appears not to be working presently.
NAMA Wine Lake 
Larry must know something we don’t. The development is basically a one hundred thousand square foot food retail outlet – a mega food supermarket. And it’s in Newry! He’s gambling on two things – the euro/sterling exchange rate and VAT rates in Eire (or the Free State) as they say in Nor’n Ireland. We will need to add another lane to the M1.
Others have the Newry faith too.
Turkington’s are building a superstore for Tesco
http://www.newrydemocrat.com/articles/news/27111/tesco-to-create-300-jobs/
The Nama-ed Parker Green are planning an expansion of the Quays shopping centre:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15275319
Sam Morrison sold the Damolly retail park to a London fund in 2010 which wasn’t a terrible deal for him given that prices have continued to slide since then
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/10340109
Near to Damolly a (solvent) sister company of the failed Carvill Group, Vico Properties, has pp for another 100,000 sq ft of retail. It’s for sale
http://touch.daft.com/searchcommercial.daft?id=49279
@JP, thanks, very interesting. These are fairly sizable developments for a town with a 27,000 population. Are they expecting a repeat of those scenes on the M1 with traffic all headed northwards in the morning and heading in the opposite direction with weighed down trunks in the evening? I wonder with sterling strengthening amid the farce playing out in the EuroZone and with transport costs on this side of the Border getting severe if that is a realistic prospect?
There is an awful lot predicated on the good roads of the A1/ M1 corridor opening up wide catchments, particularly to the south.
In one case there has already been a disastrous miscalculation
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13750531
@JP
“the retail park had “fallen victim to the demise of the southern shopper”.”
I must look again at the comparison between tesco.ie and tesco.com – about a year ago, Irish prices appeared to be about 30% higher than in the UK, but that seems to have narrowed with changes to drinks taxes and the strengthening of sterling and also some prices coming down in the Republic.
https://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/just-been-hit-with-a-1-rate-rise-by-permanent-tsb-is-it-time-“to-bring-in-all-those-fckers”-at-the-national-consumer-agency/
@nwl
I just read the “bring-in-all-those-f*ckers” post and got an uneasy sense of nostalgia.
Cowen & Kenny (and Gilmore) are cut from the same cloth in my opinion, and none of them should ever have been made leader of the country, but tis hard to imagine anything like Cowen’s healthy irreverence ever emanating from “we-will-pay-our-way” Kenny.
I agree with WSTT that Larry must know something we don’t. I would have thought that retail developments in NI based on an influx of Southern shoppers would be high risk. Aldi and Lidl (expanding all the time) have brought real competition to the grocery trade in the South and Tesco and Dunnes have had to react. Booze prices in the South have come down considerably and the Sterling exchange rate does not make it worthwhile purchasing electrical or white goods in NI (in my opinion). Add in the cost of fuel and tolls travelling North and it wouldn’t seem worth the hassle. But, then again, Larry is a smart man so it will be interesting to see what happens.
The only way it will work is if sterling collapses against the euro or if VAT increases on food in the South. Otherwise he needs a pre-let.
@WSTT, although not officially confirmed, there is speculation that Asda – similar to Tesco in terms of quality, range and price – might anchor the development.
@ NWL For an island which is already heavily over supplied with shopping, additional retail outlets must be a very serious risk. NI authorities will grant planning permissions to increase the yield from rates without considering the wider planning issues.
The UK Government has a very serious deficit to fill and increasing UK VAT rates is a comparatively easy way to do so. Also UK inflation is still running well ahead of ours.
I understand that Tesco for example are considering the position of a number of their shops in towns like Tralee & Kilarney where they have more than one outlet. These towns are massively “over shopped” already. We may shortly see an announcement that they are closing up to 20 units
Also changes in SW law are going to prevent them from abusing the current system where employees are only given so many hours to work and letting the State subsidise their wage costs via Family Income Supplement, One Parent Family Payment, & Jobseekers benefit for three day weeks.