One of Glasgow city centre’s biggest remaining gap sites could be transformed into a new neighbourhood under revised plans for the King Street car park.
New proposals have been submitted for the huge 5.4-acre site between the Merchant City, Trongate, St Enoch and the River Clyde.
The development would replace the sprawling surface car park with a collection of new buildings and streets containing homes, student accommodation, a hotel, offices, shops and leisure facilities.
Planning documents envisage buildings of different heights across the site. The land is enclosed by King Street, Osborne Street, Stockwell Street, Bridgegate and Howard Street.
A revised application for planning permission in principle has now been submitted, with the Merchant City and Trongate Community Council confirming that the latest development framework shows five proposed buildings of varying heights.
Members of the public currently have until 22 September to submit comments on the plans.
The latest proposal represents another attempt to unlock a strategically important piece of land on the southern edge of Glasgow city centre.
Developer Vengada Estates is behind the masterplan, working with Glasgow architecture practice Stallan-Brand and a wider design team including landscape architects OOBE and engineering and sustainability consultancy Atelier Ten.
The broad ambition is to replace the car park with a mixed-use neighbourhood which could remain active throughout the day and into the evening.
The site would be divided into a series of blocks separated by new streets and public spaces. The development team says the layout has been influenced by the network of narrow streets, lanes and historic wynds found around the Merchant City.
Atelier Ten describes the proposals as an opportunity to transform the car park into apartments, shops, offices and leisure space while creating a “vibrant urban quarter” connected by high-quality public realm.
The future of King Street car park has been under discussion for several years. An earlier masterplan was granted planning permission in principle by Glasgow City Council in May 2022.
Those proposals divided the land into five development plots and allowed for a broad range of uses including flats, offices, shops, restaurants, a pub, leisure facilities and a hotel.
At the time, the masterplan also allowed for the possibility of a substantial office campus providing up to 570,000 sq ft of workspace. Revised proposals emerged in 2024 which placed much greater emphasis on people living in the city centre.
The new concept, known as the Merchant Quarter, envisaged an “intergenerational zero-car neighbourhood” combining build-to-rent homes, co-living accommodation, student housing, offices and a hotel alongside shops and leisure businesses at ground-floor level.
At 5.4 acres, King Street is a conspicuous gap in the urban fabric between some of the city’s busiest neighbourhoods. It sits immediately south of Trongate and Merchant City, close to St Enoch Centre and within walking distance of the River Clyde.
For decades, much of the land has been given over to parking. The masterplan aims to reverse that by restoring streets and pedestrian routes across the site, introducing active ground-floor uses and creating new public spaces.
A 13-storey student development on the neighbouring Old Wynd and Osborne Street site was approved by councillors in 2025 and is currently nearing completion.