A blot on the landscape which has stood empty for more than 20 years looks set to be finally demolished if plans for a ten-acre site once occupied by Powergen come to pass.
Developer Advance revealed detailed plans to regenerate the site at the junction of Stratford Road and Haslucks Green Road to include a 260-apartment ExtraCare retirement village, 113 new homes and an Asda filling station.
The ten-story Powergen tower has stood empty since the energy company left in the early 1990s.
Robert Birch, of Shirley Advance, said its demolition would be welcomed by locals.
He said: "The Powergen tower has been a blot on the Shirley landscape for more than 20 years. I think local people are going to be delighted to see the back of it.
"This is an eyesore, a site crying out for development and I am convinced we have got the right scheme for it."
The proposed development will see an ExtraCare retirement village with 260 one- and two-bedroom apartments, most of which will be sold while the remainder will be shared ownership and rented.
The other residential part of the scheme will see Lioncourt Homes build 57 two-bedroom apartments, seven two-bedroom houses, 31 three-bedroom houses and 18 four-bedroom houses.
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The site has remained dormant because of a the drawn-out
Linked to that was a failed attempt by Asda to develop the Powergen site in the mid-90s, resisted by which owns the freehold.
It was pushing for a wider Shirley town centre regeneration scheme rather than a superstore.
Parkgate, which consists of an Asda superstore, other shops and residential development, finally opened for business in May 2014, paving the way for movement on the Powergen site.
Mr Birch said: "Asda was never going to come to the table and talk about it until Parkgate was sorted. Now Parkgate has become a reality Asda still owns the asset and has come to the table.
"We have managed to strike a tripartite deal between ourselves, Asda and Solihull Council."
Mr Birch said the final value of the scheme would be around £75 million, with around £50 million being spent on construction.
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Between 200 and 300 construction jobs are expected to be created and around 40 jobs will be subsequently created at the ExtraCare retirement village. Mr Birch said some elements of the original proposal had already been scrapped after an initial consultation.
"There were proposals for a family pub on the site but people made it clear they didn't think another pub was needed in Shirley," he said.
"Also they didn't want a drive-through restaurant. We were also looking at retaining the old multi-storey car park and refurbishing it but there are some houses it overlooks and those people were desperate to see it demolished, so we are going to demolish it."
Shirley Advance said it hopes to submit a planning application next month and has an exhibition at Shirley Library in Parkgate with representatives from the development team in attendance to answer questions.
The exhibition will remain on display until Saturday June 27 and can also be seen online at www.powergenshirley.co.uk.
If it can secure planning permission by this autumn, Shirley Advance said it could start site clearance and demolition work early next year with the entire scheme completed by autumn 2018.