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Housing: New development for St Helier

Two new development schemes have been proposed for Jersey’s main town, St Helier. A big private development has been proposed for Bath Street on the site where the defunct Odean cinema now stands, and 280 more flats have been approved for the Waterfront overlooking the harbour. The cinema may have to go in a £40m regeneration of the town.

C Le Masurier Ltd, which owns the Odean building, has announced plans to build a block of flats with shops and restaurants. The property company, owned by the Clarke family, also wants to provide a new green belt connecting the proposed Millennium Town Park on what is now a car park with the town centre.

Le Masurier believes that the plans for the Odeon area complement current projects to revamp the north of the town at no cost to the taxpayer. The masterplan for the north of the town is due to be debated by the island’s parliament, the States, later in July.

After the Odeon closed in 2009, the owners say they investigated every possible option for refurbishing it. However, due to “dangerously large volumes of asbestos” throughout the building, they say they are left with no alternative but to replace the old building.

Their proposal would involve building 70,000 sq ft of office space, which would be offered to local businesses and could become a pharmacy, shop, restaurant or bar in the future. No planning application has been submitted, but the proposals are available on www.lmbathstreet.je

Meanwhile, on the Waterfront, Dandara has been given permission to build three blocks of flats, 204 parking spaces, offices, shops and restaurants and cafés on the development between Castle Quay Phase 1 and the Radisson Hotel. This brings the number of flats passed on the Waterfront to 734. Plans for a further 388 at the Esplanade Quarter have yet to be confirmed.

Environment minister Freddie Cohen passed Dandara’s plans for the development, which is a seven- to nine- storey scheme. Cohen said that the latest plans had raised the standard on the Waterfront from “appalling” to “the best in the world.”

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