A planning application is to be lodged later today for a €50m retail and office development in Cork city centre.
Developer John Cleary has said he plans to re-develop the former Capitol Cinema site into a five-storey office, retail and food innovation centre.
The Capitol Cinema site on Cork's Grand Parade has been derelict for almost a decade.
It is on two-thirds of an acre and is adjacent to the city's historic English Market.
The development, which Mr Cleary says he can complete by Christmas of next year, is expected to employ 300 people in construction, with jobs for an estimated 450 people on completion.
It is one of three €50m developments expected to breathe new life into the city centre.
Construction of the city's biggest office development at One Albert Quay began in November.
60% of it has already been let, a year before completion.
In December, a consortium consisting of Heineken and construction company BAM was awarded the contract for a 6,000-seat concert and events centre at the former Beamish and Crawford brewery.
