A bid to build 55 student flats on land next to former Dundee record store Groucho’s has been approved.
The building will be situated on a vacant brownfield site at the corner of the Nethergate and West Marketgait and includes two retail units.
It is connected to a wider development comprising of a new multi-million-pound BT call centre, housing 1,000 staff, which will be adjacent to the flats.
Construction will commence shortly — to tie in with the construction of the BT office — and will be completed in 2023.
A previous plan to build 16 apartments, mostly two-bedrooms, was previously approved but the developers now have permission to create 55 studio apartments instead.
The Crucible Developments project is designed to meet housing demand for students attending the city’s two universities, which are just a stone’s throw away from the site.
A spokesperson said: “Crucible Developments is delighted to receive planning consent for the development on the corner of Nethergate and West Marketgait which completes our proposals for our Greenmarket development.”
Proposal will tie in with Waterfront masterplan
A planning statement submitted by Savills, on behalf of the firm, says the plan will “enhance” the wider £1 billion Waterfront development.
It states: “Overall, the proposals would make a positive contribution to the ongoing regeneration of the wider area, delivering high-quality purpose-built student accommodation, with ground-floor commercial space by utilising a prominent brownfield gateway site which is highly accessible to a range of users.”
Drawings by architects HAUS show how the four-storey block could look.
The site has been the subject of numerous plans in the past including a hotel, offices, a bar and a cinema – but those developments have never come to fruition.
Longstanding record store Groucho’s was once such a popular business it became a tourist attraction in its own right.
Iconic Groucho’s store remains untouched
Vinyl lovers would travel from across the UK to flick through the huge collection amassed over several decades by owner Alastair ‘Breeks’ Brodie.
It was a favourite of The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green and Lenny Henry.
The shop shut in 2019 when Mr Brodie died due to illness aged 65, and despite plans to resurrect it as a bar/restaurant, it remains shuttered.
Abandoned Dundee furniture store could become student housing in new planning bid
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