The opportunities for investment in property in Leicester continue to grow at a rapid pace and plans for a new multi-million-pound development could open yet more doors.

The Sowden Group development company wants to create 150 flats, along with a sports store, food shop and roof top pitch, on land that has long been left unoccupied off Vaughan Way, close to the Highcross shopping centre, for several years.

Planning offers have agreed in principle to the £25 million scheme which will sit on the site of the old All Saints Brewery, which has recently been demolished.

The developers want to create a footbridge that will link the development to the car part at Highcross but this has not yet been agreed by the shopping centre’s owners, Hammersons.

The Sowden Group believes the new scheme will rejuvenate an area of the city popular with small families and younger professionals. It also claims the project is likely to boost further regeneration in the Waterside former industrial area.

The food store will be available as a potential opportunity for occupiers once created, while Decathlon would operate the sports store.

A spokesman for Leicester City Council’s planning department said that the site off Vaughan Way currently detracts from the Highcross development and the overall area, and the proposed project would start the redevelopment of this ‘important site’.

Meanwhile, Highcross itself is in the top 20 of the country’s most attractive shopping locations, joining a Derby centre as one of just two malls in the East Midlands to make it towards the top of the list. The Definitive Guide to Shopping Centres chart was created by independent retail analyst Trevor Woods Associates.

The general manager at Highcross, Jo Tallack, said that a selection of new shops have joined the centre in 2014, including Smiggle, Tiger, Boost and Hugo Boss, further adding to the eclectic appeal of the mall. Footfall at the centre has increased by 1.4 per cent this year as shoppers take advantage of the shopping mix and the huge John Lewis, a four-storey department store.

Jo added that people were being attracted further by the expansion of Hammersons’ restaurant portfolio in the St Peters Square area. The Red Hot World Buffet, Chimichanga and Byron have opened in 2014 and Bills is due to open in 2015.

The mall welcomed its one millionth visitor in April 2014. The shopping centre opened in 2008 and cost £350 million to create.