SOUTHAMPTON'S landmark Tyrrell and Green store is to be torn down and the site turned into a park, the Daily Echo can reveal.
Long dubbed an eyesore, the boarded up former department store is to be removed so as not to spoil the look of new developments springing up nearby.
The wrecking ball will bring to end Tyrrell and Green's association with the site, which stretches back to the 19th Century.
City bosses are pushing ahead with plans for the arts quarter despite one of the key developers behind the scheme pulling out as a result of financial difficulties.
It is hoped a cleared site will be more appealing and help lure new developers to take on the scheme.
They plan to take advantage of the demolition team booked to knock down the former C&A building on Guildhall Square to make way for a newbuilding for business services firm Capita, which was given the go-ahead by council planners yesterday.
Once the team has finished on that site, they will cross the road to flatten the former Tyrrell and Green store, which has been boarded up since it closed in September 2000. Both sites are expected to be demolished by January next year.
The £500,000 costs of knocking down the Tyrrell and Green building will be recouped from the sale of the land to a developer in the future.
The two sites are cornerstones of a scheme to redevelop Northern Above Bar, including a multi-million pound plan to redesign Guildhall Square.
The council is anxious to proceed with the parts that are still possible after troubled developer City Lofts was found to be unlikely to be able to find the cash needed for its part of the deal - to build £50m 18-storey glass twin towers housing an arts complex and 282 flats.
Grants from SEEDA and the Arts Council towards the project are said to be safe, despite the question marks over the complex.
Despite the widespread difficulties in the housing market and a succession of dire results for developers, authorities are confident of finding replacement developers for City Lofts.
Councillor Royston Smith, cabinet member for economic development, said: "We have to demonstrate we are serious even though it looks unlikely City Loftswill proceed.
By Christmas or early January both the C&A building and Tyrrell and Green buildings will be down. Capita will be starting to build out its scheme and we'll be working on Guildhall Square.
"We will not dumb down but I don't think it is going to be easy to find another developer but the ones suffering now are the small to medium-sized ones. There are plenty of large players out there that have their own money. They will be interested in the prime site in Southampton. It's right in the centre, it's got access to everything and it overlooks the park. We own the plans, so we can pick them up and give them to a developer and say crack on. We couldn't be in a better position."
