Plans to redevelop the Northgate area of Chester city centre with a £300m retail-led, mixed-use scheme have got the green light from planners.
The Chester Northgate Scheme aims to deliver around 400,000 sq ft of new retail, restaurant and leisure facilities, planned to be delivered over two phases of construction.
Phase one is expected to start in autumn 2017, with the development of two restaurants within the shell of the current library building, a new market hall replacing the current Chester Market, a six-screen cinema and a 167-bedroom 4 star hotel and conference centre.
The hotel would replace the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which together with the Forum shopping centre and several other buildings on the site would be demolished in 2019 to begin on the second phase.
This will involve building the main retail offer, department store and residential.
The project has been around in various guises since 1991 with the last version sunk by the 2008 credit crunch. This latest scheme will require a financial investor to get off the ground.
