Plan to develop old bus station site to be revived

Plans for a large mixed-use commercial development in the Manx capital are set to be resubmitted by the end of this month, it has been confirmed.

Proposals formally submitted last summer by Wyyttavin for a 14-storey complex on Lord Street in Douglas were withdrawn following a family bereavement.

Lord Street Development SPV Ltd said it now intended to revive the plans.

They include a cinema, 85 apartments, bus facilities, offices and commercial units.

A spokesman said: "Plans to progress the development on Lord Street are still very much going ahead."

From the outset of the joint venture, he said his company had been working alongside Wyyttavin.

Lord Street wants to "create a landmark development of high-quality, for the benefit of the Isle of Man residents and visitors", the spokesman continued.

Last year the development was granted financial support from the government's island infrastructure scheme.

The Lord Street spokesman said his company would now need to make a fresh funding application.

The Department for Enterprise said any new bids for support via the scheme would need to be submitted by 30 June.

The infrastructure scheme has also supported plans for a complex on the former Villiers hotel site on Loch Promenade, and apartments replacing a former hotel in Port Erin.

The fund was created to encourage private investment in redeveloping brownfield sites on the island.

Previous proposals for a cinema complex were made in 2018 but, despite being approved in July 2019, never progressed.

The site has been used as a car park since 2002 when the old bus station was demolished.

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