Council buys 65,000 sq ft of development land
Derby City Council has bought another seven properties in the Becketwell area of the city centre with the hope of quickening the pace of redevelopment.
The buildings on Colyear Street were once home to the Pink Coconut nightclub later known as Destiny and Elite, the former Pennine Hotel/St Peters Quarter Hotel, the former Redemption Nightclub, the former Syn Nightclub and the former Mint Casino. Also included in the sale are the NCP St Peters Quarter multi-storey car park, surface level car park on Becket Street and Laurie House.
With a combined area of 65,337 sq ft of land, this latest acquisition brings the total amount of land now owned by the Council in the Becketwell area to 204,730 sq ft.
The D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) which has already invested £4m in the regeneration scheme has provided another grant of £4.1m as a further investment towards the regeneration scheme. Part of this was used for the purchase of the new properties.
The leader of the Council Chris Poulter said: “I am pleased to announce the purchase of these properties following successful closed door negotiations by a multidisciplinary team of officers. This is a huge milestone as it opens up huge opportunities for a bigger impact of the Becketwell Regeneration Scheme.
“The purchase has taken us even further towards accomplishing two key objectives of our City Centre Masterplan. One is for a holistic regeneration scheme for this area and the second is to release publicly-owned assets for regeneration in partnership with private sector developers.
“It is pleasing that the owner of these properties has been able to work with us and has agreed to the sale for the good of the city and the local economy. We are now forging ahead with developing a masterplan to transform this derelict area into a vibrant quarter of leisure, living and business. More will be revealed early in 2019.”
