48 – 50 York Street is currently a four-storey building (c12,800ft2) with ground floor retail and offices above. The building was built 1932 for the Belfast Co-Operative Society. During June / July 1983 a section of the building at the corner with Frederick Street was demolished to accommodate expansion of the inner-ring road (Dunbar Link).

52 York Street is currently a three-storey commercial building built c1840 and redeveloped c1990.

McNeill (Properties) Ltd submitted an outline planning application (Z/2014/0479/O) in April 2014 proposing to demolish the existing buildings at 48 – 52 York Street and develop a 9-storey building with 3no. ground floor retail units, 200 en-suite bedrooms on the upper floors, 5no. ground floor parking spaces and up to 100 cycle parking spaces. The application was approved in March 2015.

The site was sold during late 2015.

Student City Ltd submitted a reserved matters application (LA04/2016/1213/RM) in June 2016 proposing an 11-storey purpose built managed student accommodation building comprising 307no. studios over 3no. ground floor retail units. The application was approved in October 2017.