It once showcased the latest in Victorian technology and hosted the world's first pedigree cat show beneath its soaring vaults of iron and glass. Now, the Crystal Palace might be rebuilt in south London as a complex of exhibition spaces, shops and cafes, if a Chinese developer gets his way.

Ni Zhaoxing, billionaire owner of Shanghai-based real estate giant ZhongRong Holdings, has expressed his desire to create an exact replica of the 900,000 sq ft glass halls in Crystal Palace park. The majestic structure was originally designed by Joseph Paxton and first erected in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851, assembled by 5,000 navvies at a cost of £150,000 (equivalent to £13m today). After the exhibition, it was relocated to Sydenham and redesigned in a much grander beaux arts style, complete with a barrel-vaulted roof and two new transepts – costing £1.3m (around £97m today) – before being destroyed by fire in 1936.

An Act of Parliament in 1990 specified that any new building erected on the site must be in the spirit of Paxton's original building, a challenge taken up by a 1996 plan for a 20-screen multiplex cinema on the site by Ian Ritchie architects that was finally accepted after a high court action but ultimately never built. Another plan, a hopeless Paxton pastiche, proposed in 2008 was also unsuccessful.

Now the ZhongRong group wishes to follow the Act to the letter. The company has appointed Arup engineers to work on the project, and is in early-stage talks with the Greater London Authority and Bromley Council to develop the idea, with a view to submitting a planning application later this year.

The project is thought to provide the necessary financial backing to help Bromley Council revive long-stalled plans to regenerate the park. In 2008, planning permission was granted for a £67m masterplan, drawn up by the now-defunct London Development Agency. The plans outlined the substantial re-landscaping of the park, a new sports centre, and 180 apartments – controversially proposed for a site of metropolitan open land, to help pay for the overhaul of the park.

The scheme, developed by German landscape firm Latz and Partner, also proposed a new grove of trees on the site of the Crystal Palace terraces, laid out in a grid to mimic the former iron columns. The architects were firmly against a revival of the building itself.

“The palace was much bigger in our heads than it ever has been in reality,” said architect Tilman Latz. “The ghost of Crystal Palace is the strength of the site.”

The new Crystal Palace park, as imagined by Latz and Partner in the 2008 plans, commissioned by the London Development Agency. Photograph: /Latz and Partner Photograph: Latz and Partner

Some locals were not so convinced. Sue Nagle, of the local Triangle Traders association, said planting a “tree palace” on the site was a “lost opportunity to capitalise on one of the most famous brand names in the world.”

“Once 350 trees have been planted,” she told the Croydon Guardian in 2007 when the masterplan was unveiled, “the possibility of rebuilding the Crystal Palace in the future will be gone forever."

But now with Ni Zhaoxing's ambitions in the frame, that unlikely possibility may well return. Hearing news of the latest plans, John Payne of the Crystal Palace Community Association was unimpressed.

“Here we go again,” he told the Guardian. “It's about the fifth proposal for a commercial shed on this site. Every time, we have fiercely battled these schemes, and even taken them to the European courts to stop them from happening. We are completely opposed to commercial building on public parkland – but this time it sounds like there's some serious money behind the proposal.”

The ZhongRong group is no stranger to glass megastructures: the company is responsible for the bulbous 48-storey shaft of Jasper Tower in Shanghai's Pudong district, along with the neighbouring hulks of Hengrui International Plaza and the International Business City complex.

So how might their ambitions translate to the verdant surrounds of Bromley?

“It is a matter of public record that we are committed to improving Crystal Palace Park which remains a jewel, not just in Bromley, but in London’s crown,” said a council spokesperson. “We are continuing to explore all funding options, including grant funding, that might be available to help secure a long term and viable future. As part of this, we have had discussions with a number of parties and all of these conversations remain at early stages.”

• This article was amended on 7 January 2014. An earlier version said: "An Act of Parliament in 1990 specified that any new building erected on the site must be in the spirit of Paxton's original building, a challenge attempted in vain by a 1996 plan for a 20-screen multiplex cinema on the site by Ian Ritchie architects." In fact the high court accepted that the Ian Ritchie plan was in the spirit of Paxton's original building.