Former Hartlepool Odeon cinema site could be turned into apartments as it hits the market for £500,000

The site in Raby Road is being marketed for sale online for £495,000 with a potential development of a new three or four storey building comprising 19 apartments and four commercial units on the ground floor.

It has been vacant since the former Odeon was demolished last October following a devastating arson.

Now being marketed by Middlesbrough-based commercial property consultants Parker Barras, the web listing states: “The development which is for a three/four storey building which comprises of 4 commercial units on the ground floor and extends upwards to 10, 1 bedroom apartments alongside a further 9, 2 bedroom apartments for a total of 19 units.”

They say the 0.37 acre site is in “prime location” and sits within the Hartlepool Town Centre Regeneration Zone, where the Tees Valley Development Corporation plans to spend £25 million regenerating the local area to renew and reshape the town centre.

The proposed development does not yet have planning permission but Parker Barras states it has received a “positive pre-application response” from Hartlepool's Development Corporation.

Its also highlight the site’s closed access to a number of local amenities including Hartlepool United Football Club, Morrisons, Asda and Anchor Retail Park.

According to the property consultants, it is an area which “currently has a large need for further housing”.

The 1930s Grade II Listed building closed as a cinema in 1981 and, after a number of different uses, including as a night club, has remained empty since around the turn of the century. It was demolished last year following the large fire.

A number of residents were evacuated from their homes on Saturday, October 5, as eight fire engines tried to extinguish the blaze, and a number of surrounding roads were closed.

The building was significantly damaged and ruled to be “structurally unsafe” by engineers.

The demolition process took a number of weeks and saw the surrounding roads closed off for safety.

Two males aged 15 and 29 were arrested in connection with the fire but were later released without charge.

Police closed their investigation in January.

The development corporation itself announced plans for a new ”community park” on the Odeon site in 2023.