Property investment and development specialist, Helmsley Group has announced leading fashion and homeware retailer Oliver Bonas will relocate its York store to the city’s King’s Square.
Helmsley Group has agreed a letting to the independent British lifestyle store which will see it move from its current store at 35 Stonegate to the former Boots unit at 1 King’s Square.
Oliver Bonas will occupy the 2,164 sq ft ground floor of the building with Helmsley Group looking to transform the unused upper floors into new city centre residential accommodation, with a planning application expected to follow later this year.
Subject to planning approval, this project will realise Helmsley Group’s ongoing aspirations to bring new residential space to unused upper floors throughout York, a strategy which also features in its recently approved masterplan for the transformation of nearby Coney Street.
The Coney Street Riverside vision will see Helmsley Group revitalise the street’s retail and residential offering as well as reconnecting the high street and the river to create a new go-to destination in the city. Plans for the regeneration are expected to begin in the summer of 2025.
Max Reeves, director at Helmsley Group, said: “We’re thrilled to be welcoming Oliver Bonas to a new larger store on King’s Square and look eagerly towards developing the upper floors of the building to create new city centre living space.
“There are disused upper floors like those at 1 King’s Square across the city and it is our ambition to use York’s historic buildings to their full potential by bringing these floors back into use as much needed city centre homes.”