As the steel skeleton of The Broadway rises rapidly from the ground, the past week has seen further signs of confidence in the city on the back of Westfield’s activity.
News that the Hilton is to be sold and upgraded is a significant development and an indicator that the national property market sees good reason to make sizeable investments.
Whether you’re a fan of the building’s architecture or not, the Hilton is a landmark. It sits at a key road junction, and is visible from many points around the city – more so since the Council removed the footbridge over Hall Ings.
It is to be hoped that the Council will engage swiftly with new owners to help shape their upgrade plans so that – coupled with wider plans for improving the Interchange station – this gateway into the city centre can be radically improved, creating a sense of arrival that visitors remember for all the right reasons.
Equally, this is also an opportunity to press for car parking at Hall Ings to be made more attractive, as part of a package of measures to enhance the Interchange and its surroundings.
Anecdotally, there is encouraging activity in the city’s wider property market, with some major office buildings changing hands in the last few months and set to be transformed. Council planners are receiving increasing numbers of pre-application enquiries, notably for Little Germany and the streets around Westfield.
A coloured city centre map showing all land and buildings being developed or refitted would give a much-improved picture than past years.
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