'Viable plan' being explored for Belfast's stalled Tribeca site

Castlebrooke Investments received planning permission for the Tribeca scheme in January 2020

Stormont's communities minister has said he is exploring options for a "deliverable alternative" to the stalled Tribeca redevelopment project in Belfast city centre.

The scheme was pitched as a £500m regeneration of a 12-acre site near Royal Avenue and St Anne's Cathedral.

But the area has become increasingly derelict as the company which has owned the site since 2016 has made little progress on its plans.

Gordon Lyons said he has asked officials in his Stormont department to engage with Belfast City Council "to help identify and deliver a viable plan".

He said it was a "complex issue" and would take time, resources and input from others "to develop a fully costed and deliverable alternative".

Outline planning permission was granted to Castlebrooke Investments for the Tribeca scheme in January 2020.

The proposals included office space, apartments and some retail use.

The Tribeca office in Belfast city centre has remained closed

But little progress has been made since then, and earlier this year it emerged some applications linked to the scheme had been withdrawn.

Castlebrooke has previously said it was still trying to deliver a "commercially viable development".

'Growing frustration'

The communities minister expressed his "concern at the lack of meaningful advancement" and said it had "understandably led to growing frustration".

"The continued stagnation of this site is not just a missed opportunity - it's actively contributing to the deterioration of a key part of the city," he said.

Speaking in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday, Lyons said Belfast City Council was preparing a paper for his department to consider.

He said this "regeneration and planning framework" would "set out clear steps for the delivery of a viable regeneration scheme".

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said Belfast City Council was preparing a paper for his department to consider

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) minister also said he intended to convene a meeting of key stakeholders, including the developers.

"I think it's important that we do all we can to get together so that this can be thrashed out," he said.

Lyons said the Department for Communities would continue its engagement with Castlebrooke "to seek clarity on their intentions and timelines for the site".

The issue was tabled for debate by his party colleague, the North Belfast assembly member Phillip Brett.

He said the Tribeca area looked like a "bomb site" and was a "stain upon our capital city".

"If this was on Malone Road this would have been dealt with a long time ago," he added.

Assembly members from Sinn Féin, Alliance, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) also voiced their concerns.