The City centre plot near Cambridge station was sold with planning for 137 apartments to Hill Residential.
Andy Hill, the chief executive of Hill, described the plot as the “gateway to Cambridge”.
He said: “With tens of thousands of tourists visiting each year, it is essential that it is redeveloped to the exacting standards the city deserves.”
The house builder will rename the Tenison Road scheme Vesta. It has planning for four, five-storey blocks.
The Swedish construction giant set up Homes by Skanska in 2011 saying it aimed to bring some Scandinavian thinking to house building and use its muscle to become a top 20 house builder in the UK.
But the Homes by Skanska business has suffered two years of losses and had just three schemes on its books, two in Cambridge and land in Bath.
It announced it was closing its fledgling housing development arm last September.