York city council and Network Rail are working up a new masterplan for a £1bn scheme that fell prey to the recession in 2009.
Arup and Colliers International have been appointed to advise on reviving the York Central scheme on a 183-acre city centre brownfield site.
The new plan will be smaller and more leisure-orientated than the original plan, featuring as many as 1,000 homes and a central business district comprising 250,000 sq ft of offices as well as hotels and shops.
The original scheme would have provided 1m sq ft of offices, 800,000 sq ft of shops and 3,000 homes.
Despite the downsizing, the long-awaited masterplan for the former site of the Holgate Road Carriageworks remains one of the largest regeneration projects in Yorkshire.
Network Rail will retain ownership of the land, with the council injecting £10m to provide infrastructure. A ?development partner will be sought in 2015 with a targeted construction start on the first phase of around 400 homes in 2016.
A source said: “The issue with York is that it has always been so constrained for office space, and has pushed most occupiers out of town.
“This is the perfect location to remedy for that. The scheme is very accessible to the station and near the city core.”
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
