£24m development on city centre gap site

Plans for vacant site will link city centre with new waterfront

A nine-screen multiplex cinema and a hotel are the cornerstones of a £24 million plan for a gap site in Dundee’s central waterfront.

Crucible Alba Group want to transform the site at Greenmarket, directly to the south of Groucho’s music store.

The company said it expects to create 250 permanent jobs at the site in addition to a “significant” number of roles during construction.

The proposed development – which would front on to South Marketgait and extend almost to the car park for Dundee Science Centre and the rear entrance to DCA – includes restaurants and cafes, flats and car parking.

Crucible Alba development director Michael Smart said negotiations are taking place with a number of potential operators for the commercial units within the development.

However, the project is at the very earliest stages of the formal planning process, with the developer just this week lodging a proposal of application notice with Dundee City Council.

A public consultation to showcase the plan is scheduled for the Malmaison Hotel on May 1, but Crucible Alba said it was not immediately in a position to release architect impression images of the proposed building.

The property developer and asset manager previously completed a number of commercial projects, including the redevelopment of a former abattoir site in St Andrews which is now a 65-bedroom Premier Inn hotel.

Mr Smart said the Greenmarket site offered a “fantastic opportunity” for redevelopment and was the “final piece in the jigsaw” of reconnecting Dundee city centre with the central waterfront zone.

“The Greenmarket Leisure Quarter proposals create a leisure destination including a state-of-the-art nine-screen cinema, restaurants and cafes, a hotel, residential accommodation and a public car park,” Mr Smart said.

“The plans complement Dundee City Council’s ambitions for the Dundee waterfront regeneration and will provide an important link between the existing retail city centre offering and the Dundee waterfront development, including the new V&A Museum.”

He added: “Greenmarket Leisure Quarter is a fantastic opportunity to regenerate a long-term vacant site, to extend the buzz of Dundee city centre and put the final piece in the jigsaw connecting the city centre to the new waterfront regeneration area.

“Discussions are ongoing with a number of cinema operators and restaurant companies and an announcement on these will be made shortly.”

Crucible Alba’s proposals are not the first to be brought forward for the Greenmarket gap site.

There have been proposals in the past – including for a major hotel development – but they have come to nothing.

Picture: Gareth Jennings. The site at Greenmarket has been vacant for several years.