A decision on the future of Harrogate Borough Council’s former Crescent Gardens offices is set to be made this month, according to site owner Impala Estates.
The Harrogate-based property investment company bought the building in January 2020 for £4m.
It submitted a planning application in March 2021 to transform the site into offices, a gym and a rooftop restaurant.
Under the plans, the empty building, which was built in the 1890s, would be extended by adding two floors.
James Hartley, director at Impala Estates, told the Stray Ferret in an email today that it expected the proposal to be considered by councillors on the planning committee on April 21.
‘Much-needed’ office space
Documents submitted by the developer in November said the conversion would add “much-needed” office space into the town centre.
It said:
“It has been noted that there is a significant lack of high quality office space within the centre of Harrogate along with more office buildings being approved for conversion to residential within the town centre, this being exacerbated by changes in permitted development rules”.
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In December, the public body Historic England said it objected to the two-storey roof-top extension and would prefer a “suitably designed” single-storey extension instead.
It said:
“Whilst we remain supportive of the proposals to sustainability reuse the former council offices, the revised scheme does not address our previous concerns and our position remains unchanged. Unfortunately, the two storey upward extension is still being pursued.”
The Stray Ferret asked the council to confirm whether Crescent Gardens will be on the agenda at the next planning committee meeting but we had not yet received a response by the time of publication.
The saga of the former council site
The future of Crescent Gardens, which has been empty for five years since the council relocated to Knapping Mount in 2017, has become a long-running saga.
Harrogate Borough Council announced when it moved into its new offices that local developer Adam Thorpe would buy the site for £6.31 million.
Mr Thorpe said he would spend £75 million on a refurbishment, which would include an art gallery, underground car park, swimming pool, restaurant and luxury apartments.
Two years later he said he had agreed the sale of 10 of the 12 properties but Mr Thorpe’s company, ATP Ltd, then collapsed with debts of almost £11million, including £24,394 to the council.
The site then went back on the market and was eventually sold to Impala Estates.
It set up a website outlining its vision for the building. The ‘project updates’ section has not been updated since April 1 last year.
