NEW plans for Rhyl's major seafront development have been unveiled.
Scarborough Development Group's rejigged plans for Ocean Plaza will see a larger supermarket, bigger hotel, more apartments but less office and leisure space than the Modus plan.
Proposals for the development, on the site of the former fun fair, will include a 95,000 sq ft supermarket, an 80-bed hotel, office space, a stand alone leisure unit, 234 seafront apartments and 20,000 sq ft of commercial space.
With SDG describing supermarkets as recession proof, that could be the first stage of the project to be started.
Prospects for the site had looked bleak when the Manchester-based Modus Properties Limited went into administration.
But the recent takeover by SDG has given the project a new lease of life.
Jason Rockett, development manager, said: “We look forward to working with Denbighshire County Council, the Welsh Assembly Government and the local people to deliver this important mixed use scheme.
"This major regeneration project can act as a catalyst to further development in the area stimulating economic growth and employment.”
SDG is part of a group owned by Yorkshire entrepreneur Kevin McCabe and the acquisition has been made with funding partners Investec Private Bank.
The group is looking to complete eight projects throughout north and south Wales, the North-West and Lincolnshire with the investment value of the completed projects anticipated to be worth £200 million.
Rhyl Mayor Glyn Pickering welcomed the news but said he would like to see the whole site developed in one stage.
He said: "It sounds like a big improvement on what we have heard so far. I'd like to get some concrete details on timing. What we don't want to find is the next few years is going to be a building site."
Mark Jackson, SDG's managing director, said: "We are a new and energetic company backed by great experience, and we are delighted to be one of the first companies to make a significant commitment to stepping back into development.
“The food store market is understandably proving to be one of the more robust in this recession, and is a great sector in which to be investing and in which to found our new business.”