The City of York council and Network Rail have formally relaunched a 1m sq ft development plan, as tipped by Estates Gazette in July.
The pair have signed a memorandum of understanding to re-start the York Central project, which was halted by the recession in 2009, with a revamped scheme.
Originally comprising 1m sq ft of offices, 800,000 sq ft of shops and 3,000 homes, the project will now be slimmed down to a minimum of 480 homes and up to 800,000 sq ft office space.
£10m has been allocated by the local authority’s Economic Infrastructure Fund.
Development could now start on the site as early as 2016.
An additional £27m has been secured from the West Yorkshire Plus Transport Fund for transport infrastructure, with £1.7m from the Leeds City Region Local Growth Fund for site remediation.
York council chief executive Kersten England said: “This agreement is a major milestone in a relationship that we have been developing with Network Rail over the past three-and-a-half years. It signals a significant turning point in both the site’s history, as well as the city’s. It builds on the momentum for brownfield site development seen in Hungate and on the Terry’s site, both already in development.
“The site will offer the city an opportunity to address the acute, growing shortage of high-quality office space, as well as addressing the severe challenges the city faces in providing homes for York residents.”
