A NEW restaurant and homes look set to replace Colchester’s former Visitor Information Centre.

The building, on the corner of Queen Street and East Hill, has been empty since the award-winning centre relocated across the road to the Hollytrees Museum last year. It had been at its former home for more than 20 years.

Colchester Council, which runs the centre, put the building on the market for £375,000.

The council has not disclosed howmuch the 3,200 sq ft building sold for.

Plans to transform the Grade II listed building have now been submitted by Matt Maestrani.

Mr Maestrani wants to use the ground floor as a restaurant, creating five jobs. The first and second floors would be turned into one and two-bedroom flats.

A number of alterations are proposed for the inside of the building. These include changes to stairs and doorways, as well as access to toilets and the installation of walls for the flats, Paul Smith, Colchester councillor responsible for finance, said: “There was a lot of interest and a very competitive bidding process took place for it.

“The funds will go into the council’s revolving investment fund. The idea is we sell a commercial property, and rather than just put the money in the council’s reserves, it will go into a fund we can use to invest in other commercial property.”

The council relocated the Visitor Information Centre after it had been searching for a new base for several years. Only the ground floor of the three-storey building was being used.

Colchester Council aims to make a decision on Mr Maestrani’s plans by November 5.

The Gazette tried to contact him via his planning agent, John Inkpen, but did not receive a response.