A BELFAST-based investment firm has announced it is to invest upwards of £20 million redeveloping the area around the Quayside Shopping Centre in Derry.
Norlin Ventures, headed by local entrepreneurs Richard Irwin and Stephen Symington, are major players in the property, hospitality and leisure sectors in the UK and part of the team behind the new Holiday Inn Express on the Strand Road, due for completion next summer.
The investors, who have a growing hotel portfolio, which includes the Hampton by Hilton in Exeter and further planned Hilton franchises in Peterborough, Norwich and Dublin Airport, believe Derry is an area of "untapped potential".
Norlin, who also operate a team in the British Touring Car Championship, already own the site of the new Strand Road hotel as well as the Quayside Shopping Centre and a number of smaller buildings around the city.
Future plans include a car park, a possible further hotel as well as new restaurants and leisure facilities.
"You've got a cluster that's developing down there with the City Hotel, what's going on in Ebrington, the Holiday Inn Express and therefore it makes sense for us to put something else in there," Mr Irwin said.
"It will be a major development, it's not just a light scheme, the centre has been under-developed."
"We've started talking to the council and we will probably be putting in planning applications towards the tail end of this year for Quayside. The scheme will entail more elements of hospitality so it will include restaurants, we will be looking at what are the needs in the city so it could be more hotel rooms, conference centres and stuff that will actually drive into that cluster of hotels already built."
The investment duo have already invested £4 million into the Quayside centre, with another "£15 million to £20 million" pledged towards redevelopment in the Maiden City.
"It's (Derry) got its own unique challenges as it still lags behind Belfast in terms of investment, but it's got a lot of positives as it is a small city with great culture and heritage. I think it can attract a similar type of global market as Belfast, it just needs the facilities to be put in place to develop it."
In addition to Derry the investors plan to build a 200-bed branded hotel, possibly a Hilton, in the centre of Belfast and hope to have a deal concluded for a site within the next "six to nine months".
Norlin also acquired the former B&Q site on Boucher Road earlier this year and have revealed the site's long-term future will be in retail.
"We have been approached by a number of retailers and our planning application going in will be a retail application, although it will contain an element of community space within it so that legacy is not lost completely," Mr Irwin added.
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