Insider Media Limited

A Leicester skyscraper is set to be transformed as part of a £14m development. Plans to redevelop the former International Hotel on Humberstone Gate East include illuminating the 11-storey tower and creating student flats and family apartments on the site. Shops and restaurants will also be opened on the site, which is in the city’s emerging Cultural Quarter.

The shopping space on the ground floor and basement of the tower block will be re-opened, and cafes, bars and restaurants are also planned for the premises. Public leisure facilities, including a gym and play area, have also been included in the plans.

The site has been acquired by unnamed investors advised by Pritchard Stockbrokers. Development managers will submit a detailed planning proposal to Leicester City Council early this year.

Christopher Downing, a development manager at Bournemouth-based Pritchard Stockbrokers, said: “We are really excited about this project. We felt the time was right to redevelop the site and invest in Leicester.

"It is a young and vibrant multicultural city with a strong student culture and two excellent universities. The building has had a troubled history in recent years when the previous owners ran it as a hostel, but our vision is to help it reclaim its place as one of Leicester’s most important buildings. We really think it can become a vibrant social and cultural hub within the Cultural Quarter.

"We also think we can re-establish it as a destination for shoppers by bringing a speciality retail offering to the building. Highcross is great at what it does, but it is largely focused on the big national retailers. We have the footprint to offer something different, something more in keeping with independent retailers and the Cultural Quarter.”

Outline plans include student accommodation as well as a mixture of single and family apartments, as well as low-cost managed workspace for start-up businesses.

Other ideas under discussion include family-oriented leisure activities such as a ten-pin bowling alley.

Economic development company Prospect Leicestershire has been working with Pritchard Stockbrokers since they began the project last July.

David Hughes, chief executive of Prospect Leicestershire, said: “Prospect Leicestershire has been focusing a lot of effort with partners in the Cultural Quarter to lift investment confidence and assemble deals between property owners, developers and potential end users.

"This acquisition is a pioneering move by a far sighted developer that has realised the potential of the Cultural Quarter and we look forward to working with them on this innovative development.”