Plans have been submitted for a 14-storey office block on Deansgate ahead of a £200m regeneration project set to transform the north end of one of Manchester's oldest streets.
Property fund Kames bought 39 Deansgate for a reported £11million last year.
The prominent site has retail occupants on the ground floor, including the Flight Centre and Greggs, and other businesses in the eight storeys above.
According to Place North West, Kames were sounding out potential uses as a hotel or residential.
But the decision has now been made to focus on commercial, as a building control application has been submitted to Manchester city council.
This is for the construction of "a new 14 storey office building with commercial use at ground floor level with cycle storage and changing facilities within the basement and lower basement level."
A spokesperson said Kames was unable to comment.
39 Deansgate sits in the wider Renaissance Hotel regeneration area, earmarked for a £200m transformation in the coming years.
The 1970s hotel is set to be demolished to make way for a five-star hotel, 600 upscale apartments and a new public courtyard, as well as waterfront walkways and restaurants.
Town hall bosses have been trying to develop the vast site for decades but various plans have fallen through due to the complexity and scale of the project.
The latest plan aims to open up the River Irwell , creating a ‘best in class’ new courtyard that would open out onto Deansgate .
St Mary’s Gate would become one-way, only allowing traffic - apart from buses - to run southwards, allowing planners to narrow the road in order to make the area more pedestrian-friendly.
Developers Urban and Civic submitted the new framework which was endorsed by the council last year.
It was suggested at that point that demolition of the Renaissance could start as soon as early 2020, although an application has yet to be submitted.
