Plans have been unveiled to give the north’s biggest retail park a £13million facelift and create 180 new jobs.
Three restaurants, revamped shop fronts and a redesign of the maze-like car park are all promised in the blueprint for transforming the site on the eastern outskirts of the Highland capital.
The centre – just off the A96 road to Nairn – has also been rebranded as Inverness Shopping Park.
Major food outlets Frankie and Benny’s, TGI Fridays and Nando’s are all in line to move into the former Comet building which has lain empty for several years after the electrical firm collapsed.
It is estimated that 180 full and part-time jobs would be created by the expansion, with students from Inverness College UHI on the nearby campus likely to be targeted to fill vacancies in the restaurants.
As well as a complete redesign of the car park, other planned improvements include a children’s play area, public toilets with changing facilities and landscaped grounds.
The existing shops will be given a new look, with improved glass frontages and new stone cladding.
Park manager, Kirsteen Gunn, said the proposed changes followed consultation with customers, and admitted that the near-20-year-old park’s current format was a “bit tired and dated”.
A previous application for the three restaurants was withdrawn in February this year after Highland Council planners recommended refusal.
Several high street businesses objected, saying they were concerned the proposals would jeopardise plans to expand the city’s Eastgate Centre with new shops, restaurants and a cinema.
The three restaurant chains lined up for the retail park have all indicated they would also consider opening in the city centre.
A new planning application detailing the £13million project has now been submitted to the local authority.
Ms Gunn, who took over as the park’s first dedicated manager in January, said: “We already have many retailers on site both here and at the Eastgate Centre.
“We have New Look, Boots, Argos, Next and they have all quite happily co-existed for very many years.
“Both sets of stores are very successful. Inverness is one of the fastest-growing cities in Britain and we have a huge catchment area.
“I understand the city centre first policy. I used to work in the Eastgate Centre for many years but we’re not in competition and we don’t want to be in competition.
“We’re just looking to provide a better experience for our customers.”
She added: “The park is coming up for nearly 20 years old now and it has ticked over, but it’s starting to get a little bit dated.
“Basically the customers are looking for more. They want to be able to have a bigger range of leisure facilities when they come up to Inverness from all around to shop.
“If you’re coming up here for a couple of hours you go around the shops, you stop for a coffee, you want access to public toilets, somewhere nice to sit outside in the summer, somewhere to eat.
“There’s just not that offering there at the moment so that’s what we are trying to deliver.”
The redesign of the car park would involve traffic being directed nearer the shop fronts.
Ms Gunn said the “notorious” crossroads at the centre of the current car park would be removed and replaced with large new paths for pedestrians and cyclists.
Stuart Nicol, chief executive of Inverness Chamber of Commerce, said he was supportive of both the city centre and the new plans for the retail park.
He said: “We’re delighted with this promise of fantastic investment in the city.
“It’s a major commitment from the landowner to invest in the retail park, which can only be good for Inverness.”
Mr Nicol added that the chamber was committed to a “vibrant city centre” which he believed would “co-exist” with the retail park.