At the site in Full Street, permission was in place for offices to be created but now developer Wilson Bowden is understood to be in negotiations which could see a hotel established on the land, subject to planning permission.
The council also aims to bring forward its own 30-unit office scheme in Bold Lane. That will depend on receiving nearly £2.9 million it is hoping to get approved from the European Regional Development Fund to create the Cathedral Quarter Enterprise Centre.

The site was owned by the East Midlands Development Agency and was earmarked for mixed-use offices, apartments and shops. The council acquired the land in September from Emda as it is in the process of winding down.

The centre forms the core of three areas the city council hopes will be designated as enterprise zones by the Government, providing business rate relief to companies.

Richard Williams, director for regeneration at the city council, said: “By kick-starting the office market in the city centre we are very confident the market itself will lift and we won’t need to continue putting regeneration fund money into schemes for too many years.”

DATE has been set for the opening of a restaurant and casino at Derby’s £100m Riverlights development which will create about 120 jobs.

Leisure and hospitality group Genting has said it will open the Genting Club on Saturday, November 19.

It will feature bars on each floor of the venue, a 60-seater restaurant called Fahrenheit and a casino.

The casino will feature blackjack and roulette tables as well as slot machines.

The Genting Club will also have a lounge, which will host live entertainment and dancing.

Tables will also be fitted with the latest touch-screen technology to host interactive quizzes.

Mrs Cross said: “Every-thing is running to plan and we aim to open on November 19.

“From the moment people arrive in the club, we want them to feel at home and spend the evening with us, whether it be enjoying cocktails, the food in the restaurant or learning to play roulette or other casino games.

“This will be the first Genting Club in the UK.”

Derby City council is to submit a bid to the Government to designate three “clusters” in Derby as enterprise zones. They cover 326 acres and would create thousands of jobs.

A spokesman for the authority said: “The aim of this is to foster economic development, not just in manufacturing. Our hope for the enterprise zone is to create 12,300 jobs.”

The three areas would incorporate five sites in the city centre, a 150-acre site in Sinfin Moor and land at Chaddesden sidings grouped together with Derby Commercial Park.

Business rate discounts offered in those areas, if enterprise zone status was confirmed, would last for five years or up to a limit of £275,000 per business, as set by the European Union.

In the city centre, the aim of what is being called the city growth cluster would be to entice companies to move into a number of new office developments, all of which have planning permission but no confirmed occupants.

They are the Cathedral Quarter enterprise area, a proposed office block in Cathedral Road called Central Square, another scheme in the former magistrates’ court in Full Street, developer Norseman’s One Derby office scheme for London Road and the City Gate offices, also in Cathedral Road.

The 150-acre site in Sinfin Moor would be designated as a global technology cluster and would capitalise on Derby’s reputation as a home of hi-tech engineering companies.

The Chaddesden sidings land and Derby Commercial Park would form an environmental cluster to capitalise on the emerging environmental sector and technology surrounding it.

George Cowcher, chief executive of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber, said: “The three clusters are areas where Derby wants investment and has strengths in.

“Technology is what Derby is famous for and there is an abundance of it.

“But it wants to expand on that and the environmental sector is growing.”

The Government announced that 21 enterprise zones would be created throughout the country.

Italian restaurant chain Ask plans to open up in Derby’s Market Place next year.
It has submitted plans to put up new signage at the former bar. The plans have been welcomed by businesses in Derby.

Ask is the latest in a string of restaurant companies indicating their interest in coming to the city. In August, upmarket chain Jimmy Spices announced it would be opening a 500-seater outlet in Derby’s Riverlights complex.
And last week the Derby Telegraph reported how Cosmo, which specialises in pan-Asian buffet food and already has about 12 outlets in the UK, had submitted plans to open in the former Zanzibar night club.
John Forkin, Managing Director of Marketing Derby said, “We know Gondola Group have been happy with Derby because they have invested in Zizzis and so we were keen to see them bringing an Ask Italian restaurant to the city and are pleased they are now doing that.”

Plans to give Pride Park a “soul” by building restaurants and shops next to the football stadium have been welcomed by neighbouring businesses.

Marketing experts are also backing the creation of The Plaza @ Pride Park, which is expected to create about 200 jobs.
The Plaza @ Pride Park plans include five restaurants and cafes, two bars, more than 2,000 sq metres of office space and two retail units. A planning application has already been submitted to Derby City Council.

John Forkin, Managing Director of Marketing Derby, said: “I think surrounding businesses on Pride Park will welcome this and any new development is good. In the past year, the city has had a development hiatus and this fits in with the next wave of new projects.”

Speaking after a conference yesterday to unveil the plans, Rams chief executive Tom Glick said: “We’re quite excited about the plans and we’re very pleased with the reaction to them.

A planning application was submitted to Derby City Council yesterday and, if given the go-ahead, the club said it hoped the development would be opened by the summer of 2013.