York's big wheel erected at the Royal York Hotel
York's big wheel has started to go up in the city centre after three years of planning refusals.
City of York Council said the 175ft (53m) high wheel could go in the gardens of the Royal York Hotel.
John Lowery from Great City Attractions, the company that owns the wheel, said he is confident it will be open to the public by the weekend.
The wheel was previously in Dublin and was relocated to York in 24 articulated lorries, at a cost of about £150,000.
"It's a big operation - we've increased the size of the team to try and get it up for the weekend," said Mr Lowery.
It will stay at its new site until January 2013.
The big wheel attracted 1.2m visitors when it was at York's National Railway Museum from 2006 to 2008.
Mr Lowery said the new site next to York Station is better than the previous site.
"For some people it was too far to walk and you had to go through another attraction to get to it. With this wheel you'll be able to see York by night," he said.
An application to put the wheel at Exhibition Square was turned down.
York Museums Trust also pulled out of plans to put it on derelict land behind the city art gallery.