A residential development forming a key part of one of the North of England’s most significant regeneration projects is now complete.
Buyers have snapped up properties in the final phase of the Fruit Market residential development in Hull, marking a major new milestone in the creation of the city’s first urban village.
It marks the end of a four-year period during which the city’s most significant new residential development in decades has taken shape close to Hull’s waterfront.
The £24m development features 109 mews-style homes arranged around four private courtyards and is now home to a thriving city living community of around 300 residents, ranging from young couples and professionals, to families and retired people.
The scheme is a key element of the wider £80m regeneration of the Fruit Market area driven forward by Wykeland Beal, a joint venture company formed by commercial developer Wykeland Group and housebuilder Beal Homes, working in partnership with Hull City Council.
The development launched in 2018 as one of the key projects building on the momentum of Hull’s game-changing year as UK City of Culture 2017.
In recent years Wykeland Beal has transformed a near-derelict area – once home to Hull’s wholesale fruit and veg trade – into a vibrant commercial, creative, cultural and residential community. The renaissance of the Fruit Market is at the forefront of the drive to deliver a legacy of economic, cultural and social regeneration following Hull’s city of culture year.
Richard Beal, Chief Executive of East Yorkshire-based Beal Homes, said: “The Fruit Market residential development has been a huge success and proven tremendously popular.
“From the outset we were committed to delivering much more than just a residential development. We saw this as a unique opportunity to create a new place to live unlike anything else in Hull or the surrounding region.
“Our ambition was to create a new neighbourhood offering the very best of urban design, in keeping with the area’s rich history and heritage, and attractive to a broad range of residents, all enjoying the vibrant lifestyle the Fruit Market offers, with so much to do and enjoy on their doorstep.”
Dominic Gibbons, Managing Director of Hull-based Wykeland Group, said: “There have been so many high points over the course of the past few years as we have delivered so much positive change in the Fruit Market. The completion of the residential development is certainly one of those.
“Our vision for the Fruit Market is to create a unique and vibrant quarter where people live, work and play, so the residential element is a key part of the overall regeneration picture.
“Having hundreds of people living in the Fruit Market adds to the very strong sense of community and contributes to the vitality of the area. It also means the shops, restaurants, cafés, bars and galleries in the Fruit Market have a community of customers on tap.”
Among the final buyers in the Fruit Market is Amby Ezem, 28, who moved into her two-bedroom apartment in the final phase of the development in September last year.
Now, with support from her family, she has invested in a three-bedroom townhouse, which she has rented out to tenants through Beal’s sister property management company Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Developments (YLD).
Amby, a pharmacist, said: “I heard about this development through a friend who lives in the Fruit Market and the location is just perfect. There is so much to do here.
“The Fruit Market has everything I need and I love urban living. It’s a friendly community and I look forward to coming home from work to be here.”
The spectacular transformation of the Fruit Market has won a series of awards including Best Regeneration Initiative in the Housebuilder Awards 2021 and Gold award for Best Mixed-Use Development in the WhatHouse? Awards 2021.
