OFFERS to buy a prime 1.2 acre riverside site opposite the Nestl Rowntree factory in York for luxury houses are being considered.

Chartered surveyors Colliers CRE are evaluating what are believed to be seven-figure sums for the site which takes in numbers 161 to 163 Huntington Road.

The site is being sold by JTM Developments, of Bowcliffe Hall, near Wetherby, which has approval for nine three-storey town houses and 12 luxury 750-sq ft apartments to be built on it

The site, only a mile from the city centre, backs on to the River Foss. It is presently occupied by two homes and a block of redundant lock-up garages.

Richard Barker, of Colliers CRE, said: "This is a prime site in one of England's loveliest cities, where prices do not yet appear to have reached their peak." The proposed development has been designed by architect David McCormack, of Studio Map Ltd, Harrogate. He said the properties would all be built using traditional materials that respected the scale and character of York's architecture.

"The town houses will all have gardens that have an aspect on to the river," he said. "The apartments, which will face Huntington Road, will overlook a green landscaped courtyard". John Cowling, chairman of JTM Developments, which specialises in land acquisition for high-quality residential development and commercial investment, said: "York is a beautiful historic city and we believe that the new development will considerably enhance both the local environment and the housing stock."

JTM Developments is also selling a residential site of nearly one-third of an acre at Murrough Wilson Place, off Faversham Crescent, close to York District Hospital, which has planning permission to turn 46 lock-up garages into 22 one and two-bedroom apartments.

Mr McCormack, whose Studio Map Ltd is also involved architecturally, said: "It is proposed that the apartments should be built around a central courtyard.

"The location is a very convenient one for anyone working in the city centre, the hospital or Nestl."

Updated: 10:45 Tuesday, May 06, 2003