Bosses at the Alpha Garden Centre, in London Road, Wickford, previously announced the business will close and launched a consultation over potentially building 90 homes.
Now, plans have been officially submitted to Basildon Council which include 75 homes, as well as infrastructure improvements and proposals to preserve existing green space.
Well known – The Alpha Garden Centre (Image: Google Maps)
The garden centre has been run by the Amos family since 1979 and owner Dean Amos, 64, is seeking retirement after 45 years in control of the business.
Plans would see all existing buildings on the land demolished.
Dean confirmed the land has not yet been sold, but is seeking planning permission before a sale is secured.
He said: “We have owned this site since 1979 and it has been in our family for a long time, what we intend to do is sympathetically make a business exit strategy, in a sense of selling the site.
“We changed the homes, and the density has gone down, the design is better, and it is a more sympathetic design.
“It is more spread out, there is more green space, and we are preserving the pond on the site which is a natural beauty spot that as been drawn into the development plan.
“The density could be higher but they we want the site to look as good as it can and that is why we have come down to 75 homes.”
According to Dean, given the long-standing nature of the garden centre, members of the council’s planning team had even suggested roads could be named to give nods to the site’s history.
He said: “The council has come down to look down at it, and a lady in the team who lives around Wickford said that it would be nice is we had some roads in association with the centre, something like Nursery Lane.
“It would be a reminder of what it used to be, it was a growing nursery when we bought it and it was covered in green houses, it would be nice to have an avenue marking that.”
The plans will now be considered by Basildon Council before a decision is made.