Retail units in Weston-super-Mare High Street’s empty TJ Hughes building could soon be refurbished ahead of a planning application to turn the upper floors into flats.
A spokesman for Dove Properties, which bought the property at auction for £670,000 in 2013, said negotiations are ongoing with potential retailers for two or three units on the ground floor.
Dove Property’s planning application says its plans for the building’s development are ‘ambitious’.
It has applied to North Somerset Council for permission to refurbish the ground floors, and improve the frontage of the whole building by introducing more windows.
The spokesman said: “We are coming in with an application to change the use of the upper parts of the building to accommodation later this year.
“This application is to allow us to get a head start on the work which needs to be done before we apply to re-configure the upper floors.
“We have got interest in the retail units, but the problem, as always, is we have not done the work yet and we need to hang onto them.”
The spokesman would not confirm what type of retailers may be interested in the site, but said work being done at Dolphin Square was helpful in making the site more attractive for potential businesses.
TJ Hughes has been vacant since 2011, and the council has designated it as a potential site for 18 homes.
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