PRIVATE investors have come forward to buy a key Worcester building - sparking hope it will undergo a multi-million pound transformation.

Just over a year after the 'for sale' signs went up at Trinity House, council chiefs have announced a deal with a mystery buyer to revamp the 67,000 square foot site.

Although further details have not been released publicly, your Worcester News understands:

- The buyer aims to turn it into a "mixed use" complex including shops, a bowling alley, residential accommodation and units for small businesses

- Sofas store Suites Direct, which still occupies a large shop on the ground floor, has been told its future is safe and can stay on-site once the revamp is complete

- The sale is expected to be complete by the end of the year and it will bring in a seven-figure sum for taxpayers

The building is owned by Worcestershire County Council, which teamed up with the city council in August last year to try and sell it alongside the 85-space Cornmarket car park in a joint package.

But after only two tentative enquiries, the city council pulled out of any deal and for the last few months bosses at County Hall have been trying to sell Trinity House independently as a stand-alone asset.

Sources close to the deal say interest in the site, which has been marketed by Halls Commercial, has been growing in recent months culminating in an offer the council was happy with.

Councillor John Campion, the county's cabinet member for transformation and commissioning, said: "The sale of Trinity House is great news and will play an important part in the vital economic regeneration work that is happening across the city.

"It will also generate a valuable capital receipt which we can invest in protecting essential frontline services."

The new owners will have to hand Worcester City Council a planning application over the site, which has been calling for Trinity House to create a proper link between the High Street and St Martin's Quarter.

At one point last year John Lewis was known to be eyeing it up, but the retailer is now committed to the proposed retail park off Newtown Road.

The mystery buyer has also let it be known that some of his planned residential units would be for students.

Paul Jackson, manager of Suites Direct, said: "It means we are staying put which is great news for us.

"We've been wanting to know what's going on for a long time because many people have been thinking we're closing down, which is wrong."

Trinity House sits at the corner of St Nicholas Street and Queen Street and was home to a former Co-Op department store in the 1960s.

In 2012 the county council moved its family history centre to the Hive, leaving it largely empty.