The Council has been working in partnership with Aviva, - a major landowner at the site. The proposed plans for the city centre south scheme include extensive new and refurbished retail space, a hotel, cinema and new apartments.
The regeneration plans cover Bull Yard, Shelton Square, City Arcade, Barracks car park and Hertford Street, the Council said. The plans that will be submitted for outline approval include a new anchor store, a 1,200 space car park, cinema complex, hotel, apartments and new and refurbished retail units.
The blueprint for the city has been based on the comments received from local people who took part in a comprehensive consultation three years ago, which resulted in the Council's "Jerde vision".
The scale and viability of the scheme has been carefully planned to provide the best chance of attracting the right developer and range of retailers, the Council said. It also looks forward, to ensure it fits with other regeneration projects, including Friargate and Broadgate, which will be the city's main events square.
"We have been working closely with Coventry City Council whilst taking on board the comments from the community consultation in order to outline a comprehensive re-development blueprint for the southern Precinct," said John Whateley of Aviva Investors. "The emphasis has been on the deliverability of the scheme, with the proposal seeking to positively enhance Coventry city centre as a retail and leisure destination."
The new 120,000 square-foot anchor store is equivalent to almost two full-size football pitches, the Council said. Located near the Bull Yard, the store is planned to provide retail over three floors and has been positioned and designed to maximise its appeal to all the top retailers.
"This blueprint gives a real feel for the way the area will be developed," councillor Linda Bigham, Cabinet Member for City Development said. "It builds on our work already underway in Broadgate and on the Station to Bull Yard route which was always aimed at kick-starting the regeneration of our city centre."
"This is a detailed outline plan which we will submit this April with a decision some time in early autumn. Then the real work of securing an appropriate development partner begins," said councillor George Duggins, deputy Council leader.
Coventry is the 11th largest city in the UK, however it rates 49th in the retail rankings according to spend, lagging behind other similar centres in terms of the quality and range of shops. Experian figures for 2010 reveal Coventry shoppers spent £510m over the year, whilst shoppers in Cardiff, the 12th biggest city, spent just over £1 billion.
