YORK’S Bonding Warehouse – which has lain empty and boarded up for the past decade – could be turned into a hotel and restaurant.

The owner of the landmark riverside property has revealed that an unidentified national company wants to buy the Grade II listed building.

Property developer William Legard said his solicitor was drawing up papers to sell the site in Skeldergate, and he hoped the sale could be completed in the new year.

The news is a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of the Warehouse, which was once a popular bar and entertainment venue but has been shut since it was badly flooded by the River Ouse in November 2000.

Only a week or so ago, Mr Legard, from near Driffield, told The Press he had little hope of selling it in the foreseeable future because of the poor property market, and he feared it could be five years before it was refurbished.

When he bought the building in 2007 for more than a million pounds, he had hoped it would be refurbished and redeveloped within two years.

He said today that the national company, which had expressed an interest in the building previously, had been back in touch at about the time the recent article appeared to say it wanted to go ahead with buying the property.

He said the approach was ‘purely coincidental’ and not sparked by the newspaper’s article.

The hotel plan is a major switch from Mr Legard’s original plans for the property, which dates back to 1875. He looked initially at converting it into luxury flats and a restaurant and then switched to planning offices and flats.

The building will be sold with protective measures in place to prevent it flooding again, even if the River Ouse once more hits the record levels reached in 2000.

A “concrete boat” has effectively been created inside the exterior building, lined with materials to prevent floodwaters from getting in through the walls or the floors to the ground or upper floors. However, the basement, which will not be occupied, will be freely allowed to flood.