Before Christmas, Elysian Residences began clearing the ground on the former ABC Cinema site at the top of Mount Pleasant in preparation for building work to begin in the New Year.
However, since then there has been little activity on the site, which has stood derelict for nearly 20 years.
But behind the scenes Elysian, which is to turn the 1.3 acre parcel of land into 108 retirement apartments, retail units, a 3,000 sq ft restaurant and a boutique cinema, say they are working hard to bring the project to fruition.
They also said that they are hoping to bring a new library to the town, which will operate out of The Belvedere development.
Head of Development & Planning at Elysian Mark Curry, told the Times: “Since full planning consent was received for The Belvedere in November, we have been working hard remediating the site, doing detailed tests and groundworks and working with the Council to agree rights of way and timings for the major construction work to begin.
“We expect to start construction fully very soon and are working very hard on this. As operators of the scheme as well as developers, our value comes when our homeowners move in, so we are keen to get well underway as soon as possible and we know this eagerness is shared by the town.”
He added that they are hoping to introduce a library to the complex.
He said: “In the meantime, we are also working on finalising the operator of the cinema, which we hope to announce soon, and we are in discussions with book retailer Foyles, who operate a library at our Stanmore Development for homeowners and the community, regarding providing the same at The Belvedere.”
