Keith Beaumont, who led some of Leicester's biggest regeneration programmes of the 1990s, has been given the Honorary Freedom of the City.
Mr Beaumont led the £37.5m City Challenge programme, which cleared scrapyards and derelict sites around Bede Island and the riverside.
The scheme attracted millions in private investment and delivered the Bede Park, the redevelopment of the former Cattle Market site and the remediation of land later used for the King Power stadium.
He went on to lead the delivery company for the National Space Centre, which opened in 2001, and later the £49.5m New Deal for Communities initiative in Braunstone.
City Mayor Peter Soulsby said Mr Beaumont's contribution was ‘simply unparalleled’ and the honour was ‘long overdue’.
Councillors voted unanimously in March to award the honour, the highest the city can bestow. It was conferred at the Town Hall on 2 October.
Speaking at the conferment ceremony at the Town Hall, Keith Beaumont said: ‘I am deeply moved to be able to stand here and thank all of you in in this room who worked so hard to change Leicester’s West End.
‘We worked together to change negatives into positives. We worked as a team, and I am very grateful that I was able to make a contribution to that team.
‘I am deeply honoured to receive this recognition from a city that means so much to me.’
