Working with Aviva, the other major landowner in the city, it has drawn up a blueprint for the southern side of the city centre.
The council is concerned that there is not enough shopping being done in the city. It is the UK’s 11th largest city but ranks 49th in retail spending.
According to the latest national statistics, shoppers spent £510m in Coventry in 2010, compared to £1.8bn in Nottingham, which ranks as the 14th biggest city.
The development plans, based on a mass consultation exercise and now to be submitted for outline approval, are described as “more than just a shopping centre”.
They include a new 120,000 sq ft anchor store, a 1,200 space car park, a cinema complex, a hotel, apartments, new and refurbished retail units and the reintegration of the marketplace into the scheme.
Cllr Linda Bigham, cabinet member for city development, said: "I believe that this is the beginning of one of the most exciting transformations our city has seen in 50 years - it is what people have been asking for and importantly it is a deliverable plan.
"We have been working with Aviva, the other major landowner, over the last year to make sure we get the plan absolutely right. We have set the design bar very high indeed - but that's because we know how important it is that we don't just create a clone shopping centre like anywhere else. Coventry is unique and has its own special character - and we want to celebrate that. That's why it was so important that the plan retains and improves the cross layout inspired by the Donald Gibson plan after the devastation of the war but still works in a modern way - providing the size of units that today’s retailers what and ensuring that it connects to the surrounding area as well as future developments.”
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