Plans to build a hotel and student halls at the site of an iconic yet derelict building in Dundee city centre have been submitted to the council.
Proposals for the formation of a hotel, student accommodation and licensed restaurant unit with associated facilities and ancillary works, to include infrastructure and landscaping, have been handed to the authority to be built at the site of the former Robertson’s furniture store.
The building would be demolished – save for the art deco-inspired building front, which campaigners argued was “a site of historical importance” – according to agent McInally Associates Ltd.
McInally Associates Ltd, who submitted the application on behalf of Structured House (Barrack Street) Ltd, said there would be a “substantial retention” of the iconic facade, and according to the plans four levels of the shop’s front would remain.
More than 700 people signed a petition calling for the building to be saved, after an initial application showed the developers planned to demolish it entirely.
A community consultation process regarding the project was held at the end of February, where members of the public were invited to view plans at the Wellgate Central Library.
Robertson’s closed its doors for the final time in 2011, after operating in the city for more than a century.
The listed building, Willison House at the junction of Barrack Street and Willison Street, has lain abandoned since then.