Hotel chain announce plans to open latest venue in Liverpool
A hotel chain based in Ireland has announced plans to open its latest venue in Liverpool.
Dalata Hotel Group, the largest hotel operator in Ireland, published its interim results this morning.
And as well as announcing a new hotel in Liverpool the company said its UK portfolio has continued to perform very strongly, achieving a ‘like for like’ RevPAR increase of 3.0%2 for the 11 months to the end of November 2019.
Its UK regional city hotels are performing particularly well and all outperformed their city markets in terms of RevPAR change versus 2018.
Work has already started on the development of a £47m, 278-bedroom Maldron hotel in Manchester’s Charles Street.
The development is a joint venture between European real estate investment, development and asset management firm Catalyst Capital and Sir Robert McAlpine Capital Ventures (SRMCV), the development arm of the Sir Robert McAlpine group.
The hotel is one of two Dalata-branded properties expected to open in the city, with a Clayton hotel already operating at Manchester Airport.
And today Dalata announced it has signed an agreement to lease a new hotel to be built in Liverpool.
The new Maldron hotel will be of part of a mixed-use scheme being jointly developed by the Elliot Group and Valorem.
The Park Lane site is next to Liverpool One and within walking distance of all the city centre attractions.
The hotel will include approximately 260 rooms, a restaurant, a bar and meeting room facilities.
The proposed hotel secured planning permission this month and construction should commence in the first half of 2020. It is expected that the hotel will open in mid-2022.
Developer Elliot Group and its joint venture partner Valorem Investment Partners say that Dalata Hotel Group has taken a long lease at its £170m Park Lane development.
The four-star hotel will operate under the Irish group’s Maldron brand and will be the operator’s debut in the Liverpool hotel market.
The deal was contingent on a new planning approval that sought permission to convert one of four new-build residential blocks to a hotel, with the building’s height reduced from twelve storeys to nine.
Planning permission was granted earlier this month.
“Liverpool’s economy is in good shape and there’s an appetite among end-users to participate in its continued growth,” explained Elliot Lawless.
“I’m delighted that we can bring such a high quality operator to the city. Since acquiring the Park Lane site in June we’ve moved quickly to drive the project forward and credit is due to all parties for concluding the deal in a tight timescale.”
Anthony Maxwell-Jones of Valorem Investment Partners said: “The signing of the Maldron Hotel at Park Lane will act as a catalyst for the development.
“We’re now aiming for a New Year start to ensure we maintain our momentum across the site.”
Dermot Crowley, deputy chief executive of Dalata Hotel Group, said: “I am delighted that we are today announcing another new project in the UK, the Maldron Hotel Liverpool. Liverpool has been a key target city for Dalata due to the strong mix of corporate and leisure business.”
Elliot Group and Valorem say that they are now in discussions with funders for the scheme’s three new-build residential blocks, which include a 16-storey tower on the corner of Park Lane.
The refurbishment of the listed Heap’s Rice Mill is separate from these discussions and remedial works have been undertaken on the mill since its acquisition to ensure it retains is physical integrity before commencing the full works in 2020.
Hill Dickinson in Liverpool advised Elliot and Valorem on the deal, whilst Squire Patton Boggs acted for Dalata.
The overall masterplan for Park Lane has been designed by the Liverpool studio of Falconer Chester Hall. Zerum acted as planning consultants.
