City of Wolverhampton Council has revealed at MIPIM a stunning new artist’s impression showcasing Urban & Civic’s £55 million Westside development.
Enabling works are currently underway on the leisure-led mixed use scheme at the heart of the city centre, and strong demand from occupiers means construction on the first phase remains on track to start in early 2018.
The MIPIM presentation in Cannes also highlighted a 100-plus bed opportunity for a hotel investor to be part of the scheme, which sits across 6.4 acres on three adjacent parcels of land.
Westside will also bring to the city a multiplex 12-screen cinema, 50,000 square feet of additional leisure space, new restaurants covering 40,000 square feet, and a multi-storey car park in phase one.
Phase two will deliver more than 300 new city centre homes and 50,000 square feet of retail and leisure space.
Councillor John Reynolds, Cabinet Member for City Economy, said: “Plans are progressing well for Westside and it is a fantastic city centre scheme, as this latest image shows.
“It has already attracted unprecedented demand from occupiers and will gain added profile at this week’s MIPIM event.
“Urban & Civic possess an excellent track record in delivering comparable high-quality schemes in the UK and have the financial support in place.
“There is a general enthusiasm around the Westside opportunity, and optimism concerning the groundswell of regeneration activity across the city, where £3.7 billion of investment is on site or in the pipeline.
“The outstanding proposals put forward by Urban & Civic perfectly meet our expectations of a regenerated Wolverhampton.”
Construction on phase one of the project is expected to be complete by early 2020. It encompasses land between Penn Road Island and Salop Street, including the current School Street and Peel Street car parks and the area around Market Square.
Phase two incorporates parts of land between Salop Street and Darlington Street, including the Fold Street car park. Works on this section of the development are likely to be completed in 2022.
Urban & Civic Property Director, Philip Leech, added: "We are proud to be the developers of this prestigious city centre leisure scheme which for the City of Wolverhampton will become a game changer both culturally and economically.
“Leisure-based urban regeneration is a specialism of Urban & Civic and we are looking forward to completing a destination which will serve the city for generations to come"