New flats and shops have been confirmed as part of a Cardiff development, months after a popular independent business collective was kicked out of the site.
Cardiff Council approved the latest plans for a new development at Clearwater Way in Lakeside on Tuesday, including the creation of 15 new apartments and the refurbishment of the eight existing commercial units at the site.
Clearwater Way, near Roath Lake, will see the construction of two new storeys above the existing building. Added to the existing residential units, there will be 27 apartments in total.
In January, it was recommended that planning permission should be granted for the development subject to a reduction to the planned scale and change of building materials.
The new development is set to replace the independent business collective that originally opened in 2020.
The business collective enjoyed great success during lockdown, with its range of stores - including a bike repair shop and extravagant doughnut store - helping it to beat the coronavirus downturn. You can read the stories behind the businesses here.
While the independent pop-up stores currently at the parade have all been offered the chance to return to the site following the redevelopment, the new rent prices could be too high for many of them, and so are now looking to move elsewhere having built successful foundations in Lakeside.
Speaking with WalesOnline in August, Shaz Harris, co-founder of chicken wing shop Wing Stack, said it was "a real shame" to leave Clearwater Parade, but he would look back on his time there fondly.
"We are disappointed to leave, of course." he said. "All of us down here all started at the same time, so we’ve grown together and built up our businesses over the last nine months."
He added: "We knew when we moved in that this would happen, so it’s not a surprise to us at all, but it’s still a real shame because we’ve got to know the local community really well.
"Seeing it grow has been amazing - it’s sad now that everybody has to leave, but everyone has done really well with their businesses and that’s the main thing."
Wing Stack is soon set to open another store on Whitchurch Road.
Another trader, Cardiff Dough & Co, has recently moved to new premises in High Street Arcade in Cardiff city centre following the opening of a new factory in Rumney.
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