Planning permission was granted for the scheme in January 2020
The Communities Minister said he is exploring options for a “viable plan” to provide an alternative for the stalled Tribeca Belfast project.
In January 2020, planning permission was granted to Castlebrooke Investments for the Tribeca scheme. It was pitched as a £500m regeneration of a 12 acre site between Royal Avenue and St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast city centre, with proposals including office space, apartments, and retail use.
However, over the years, the area has fallen into dereliction as little progress has been made on the plans. Now, Gordon Lyons said he has asked officials in his department to engage with Belfast City Council “to help identify and deliver a viable plan.”
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The issue was tabled for debate at Stormont on Tuesday, September 30 by North Belfast MLA Phillip Brett. The DUP MLA said the Tribeca area now looked like a “bomb site and a stain upon our capital city.”
Speaking on the issue in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Minister Lyons voiced his “concern at the lack of meaningful advancement” on the project over the years.
“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 added.
The minister said Belfast City Council was preparing a paper for his department to consider on steps forward. He said: “I think it’s important that we do all we can to get together so that this can be thrashed out.”
North Belfast MLA Phillip Brett said: “I welcome the commitment from the Communities Minister in response to my debate in the Assembly yesterday on the stalled Tribeca site.
“For too long, the heart of inner-city North Belfast has been left to rot. A once bustling area now reduced to a bomb site and a stain upon our capital city. Developers have had years to act and have failed. That failure has left the community frustrated and our city centre scarred.
“I thank the Minister for the constructive approach he has set out. I look forward to working with him, with other Ministers and with all partners to ensure a regeneration scheme is finally delivered — one that Belfast can be proud of.
“The time for excuses is over; the time for delivery must begin.”
Last year, the chief executive of Belfast City Council said there had been “beyond a certain level of frustration in relation to the activity on the Tribeca site.” The council also confirmed it was exploring the possibility of vesting or compulsory purchase of the scheme.
At the September meeting of Belfast City Council, Green Councillor Brian Smyth warned elected representatives at City Hall not to “pat themselves on the back” over the imminent public purchase of the historic Assembly Rooms, stating the job of regenerating 12 acres of dereliction in the city centre had just begun.
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