A luxury hotel, up-market restaurants and shops form part of multi-million pound plans to redevelop a disused bus depot.

Developers want to replace the Southgates depot in Peacock Lane, Leicester, with a "landmark complex" which may include a four or five-star 150-bed hotel and conference centre.

A public square and high-end shops, bars and flats could also form part of the multi-storey site.

The property, which was on the market for £1.5m, has just been bought by from bus company Arriva Midlands by developers Applegate Leicester.

The depot, known by generations in Leicester as the departure point for holidays to Skegness, closed in July after 82 years.

Alex Reid, from property agent Mather Jamie, who helped Applegate Leicester buy the 1.8-acre site, said they were now looking for possible tenants and "high-end" hotel developers.

He said it was too early to say when building might start, but a planning application is likely to be submitted early next year.

He said: "The idea is that this is going to be real landmark entrance into the city centre.

"It's going to be a multiple-storey site and it's going to take some time to design it.

"We can see a mix of leisure, office and residential developments. A hotel is certainly a possibility. In that sort of location we'd be looking for an operator in the better end of the market.

"We could also see restaurant and retail space, but equally it could be residential – we're not closing our doors to anybody."

Plans are about to be drawn up by Staniforth Architects.

Boss Lee Staniforth said one possibility was connecting the development with the planned transport hub for Leicester's new park-and-ride service in nearby St Nicholas Place.

The news comes as a handful of city regeneration projects have recently been revived or proposed – after many developments were put on hold.

They include the £200m plans to convert the Corah factory site, which were approved last week after being put on the back-burner because of the recession.

Leicestershire property consultant Rick Moore said: "This is very interesting when you think how difficult it has been to fund anything – particularly sites which can't generate an immediate income.

"To me, that suggests it might have been bought for cash.

"It's been a bit of a secret about what's going on there.

"We've seen new hotels coming into the city, but there is still demand for more three or four-star hotels."

David Hughes, chief executive of Prospect Leicestershire, the agency charged with attracting businesses to the county, said: "It's good to see things on the up again, but we're not out of the woods yet.

"Banks are making it easier for developers, but there are still problems with getting cash.

"It's really important that we set our ambitions high and that any development happening in the city centre is of a high standard."