Plans have been unveiled for a £10million retail park scheme in Aviemore – including two supermarkets.
Developers behind the project also revealed last night that they have secured their first tenant as they seek to breathe new life into a vacant site in the centre of the village.
Fears were raised last year that the resort would lose out after Tesco pulled the plug on plans for a new supermarket on the land.
But yesterday the owner lodged a planning application for the vacant site off Grampian Road.
London and Scottish Investments said it was planning to stick closely to the design of the building Tesco had suggested, and confirmed detailed plans were due to be revealed in the next fortnight.
However, the property developers intend to split the building into three individual units, with a planning application having now been lodged seeking an amendment to the previously permitted layout.
Bryan Wilson, development director at London and Scottish, said yesterday that discount store Home Bargains has been lined up as the first tenant.
He added that negotiations were ongoing with “a number” of retailers in connection with the remaining two units which have been allocated for food sales.
Mr Wilson said the operators were likely to be “retailers currently operating in the Scottish market”.
The Press and Journal contacted a number of potential supermarket and food store tenants yesterday, but only Lidl responded, ruling itself out of the running.
A spokesman for the German discount grocer said: “We are not involved in this development.”
Mr Wilson said: “I can confirm that Home Bargains are going in, having completed negotiations for one of the units.
“We are in discussions with a number of interested parties for the remaining two units.”
Mr Wilson said the plans to amend the layout of the building to accommodate three units had been registered with the Cairngorms National Park Authority.
The application, which is expected to be considered by the Cairngorm National Park planning committee, is asking for permission to allow 60% of the shop space to be used as “convenience goods” with the remaining 40% “comparison goods”.
He added: “We are expecting that detailed plans will be made public within two weeks.”
Tesco had proposals to build on the site at Myrtlefield approved in 2012, and planned to build a £15million 45,000sq ft store which would have created about 200 jobs.
However, the retail giant pulled out in January last year at the same time as withdrawing from a site in Fort William.
Dave Thompson, MSP for Skye. Lochaber and Badenoch, said: “Basically the site has been lying vacant for some time and it was a real concern when Tesco decided they were not going to develop a supermarket, not just in Aviemore but elsewhere in my constituency as well.
“It is encouraging that London and Scottish have purchased the site and are forging ahead with their plans.
“I think that if there are going to be three retailers coming into Aviemore then that is probably a good thing and would be welcomed by the community.
“I don’t think Aviemore benefits from having a huge gap site in its centre and this can only be a good thing.”
John Grierson, chairman of Aviemore and Vicinity Community Council, said: “We are going to be discussing it at our next meeting.”