THE city council is set to launch a search for a developer to revamp the old Fruit Market.
The Humber Street area has become the focus for an emerging cultural quarter recently.
It also played host to this summer's successful Freedom Festival, which attracted 75,000 people over two days in September.
Now, the council will start a process to appoint a long-term development partner to spearhead an ambitious facelift for the area.
The brief will include:
Building new residential and commercial developments on cleared sites.
Constructing a major new arts and exhibition centre.
Refurbishing existing former wholesale fruit warehouses in Humber Street to bring them back into use.
The council has held talks with representatives of artist David Hockney about the idea of a gallery featuring some of his work.
Councillor Steven Bayes, portfolio holder for regeneration, said: "The regeneration of the Fruit Market is a key priority for the city.
"It is an opportunity to create a new cultural, creative and digital media quarter in the heart of the city. This will help to build on the businesses that are already based there."
Cllr Bayes said appointing a lead developer to work in partnership with the council would be a "first step" towards the long-term goal of revitalising the area.
A new council report outlining the procurement process says a major challenge will be to bridge the estimated £22m funding gap before the facelift project can become a reality.
The report says: "The public sector has already injected about £21m of investment in the area and while the objective is not to get a return on investment, the project does need to exhibit some progress.
"Financial appraisals undertaken during relatively good economic times mean a funding gap has existed for commercial investors to develop the Fruit Market. This gap still exists today.
"With the absence of government- supported gap funding, the council will need to explore opportunities within its own resources and through funding bids to cover an estimated gap of about £22m."
A previous partnership aimed at transforming the old Fruit Market between the former city regeneration company Hull Forward and developers Igloo collapsed in 2010 as a result of the economic downturn and the withdrawal of government funding.
