Top London firm Hopkins Architects have recommended that the road is sunk at a cost of around £25 million from the roundabout to the western end of the Esplanade car park to give developers more land to build on.
Environment Minister Senator Freddie Cohen said he would expect to see an increase in profitability of around £50 million as a result, although he added it was all ‘blue sky thinking’.
He said the problem with the current plans was that they did not follow the street pattern of the old town.
Lowering the road would make it possible to continue the grid format of St Helier’s streets on the waterfront, creating more access points and making Islanders more comfortable with it, he said.
‘We are trying to find out what the developers think of this,’ he said.
‘If they think it is a load of rubbish we will drop it.
If we are right in the extra profitability, then I am sure there will be a significant incentive there for developers to at least give it proper consideration.’
