Developers have drawn up plans for a £25 million complex of flats and shops opposite Highcross shopping centre.
Disused land off Vaughan Way, next to the John Lewis multi-storey car park, is being earmarked for a 15-storey tower containing apartments, a food store and a sports shop with a rooftop pitch.
Sowden Group and William Davis have applied for planning permission for the two-acre site of the former All Saints Brewery.
They say they want to create a landmark building on a key city centre site which would have 150 flats occupied by "younger professionals".
Roy Coley, Sowden's owner and managing director, said the scheme would cost "£25 million-plus".
He said the sports store would be operated by Decathlon and the food shop offered to occupiers when the project was complete.
The firm said its scheme would bring a derelict plot back into use, provide an extension to Highcross shopping centre and kickstart the regeneration of a run-down section of the city's waterside.
However, Leicester Civic Society said it feared the structure would not be suited to the area and would overwhelm the Norman All Saints Church, which is grade I-listed.
Society chairman Stuart Bailey said: "It's too big.
"That kind of size of development would be too big anywhere, let alone in a conservation area. It's greedy to try to cram that much into such a restricted site."
The proposals have still to be considered by the council's planning committee.
Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said it was important any development respected its historic surroundings but described the project as "very exciting".
He said: "It's a major boost for Leicester and I am pleased to see the planning application in because it shows they are making progress.
"It is good because it is on the outside of the ring road.
"Since the 1960s, the ring road has been a real constraint on development. It seems we are at last jumping the ring road.
"It is right on the edge of the waterside area, a priority for regeneration, and it is very much in keeping with the plans we have as part of the waterside regeneration growth deal.
"My sporty colleagues tell me it is something of an achievement to get a Decathlon – the nearest being up the M1 near Ikea."
Sowden's planning documents said the food store was "envisaged to be a metro-style branch of one of the larger supermarkets" catering for city centre workers.
It said its larger shopping area "could be seen as an extension to the nearby Highcross shopping centre and thereby draw people across the existing access bridge and safely deliver them to a substantial retail opportunity".
