Realty lines up apart-hotel operator for Gateway House
REALTY Estates has struck a deal with a London-based apart-hotel operator to run the converted Gateway House, the 1960s office block on the approach to Piccadilly Station in Manchester.
Realty, based in the city, acquired the site in 2008 and won planning permission for a 270-bed hotel last December as part of a wider £35m regeneration project. At the time it said it was close to agreeing a deal with a hotel operator and hoped to start on the project in May.
Nothing has yet happened at the site and now Realty’s agent, the Manchester architect Hodder + Partners, has applied for the hotel element to be a 182-bed apart-hotel instead.
A letter from Beckenham-based Max Serviced Apartments, included with the application, states: “Our position with Realty is that we have agreed the terms and we will be, subject to planning approval, taking a long term lease over the completed apart-hotel and will operate this.
“We are already a tenant of Realty Estates having worked with them on 81 Dale Street which is now leased and operated by us as an 85 unit block of serviced apartments.”
The business is owned by The Imperial Property Company (London), which in turn is owned by Ayse and Nicholas Sutton. It operates 11 blocks in the UK and says it has a “large pipeline” under development.
The company adds: “We are extremely excited about the propsects for Gateway House as an apart-hotel because with its location adjacent to Piccadilly Station and its highly prominent frontage with good sized units planned, it will become a high-end apart hotel.
“As a sector of the market compared to hotel roms throughout the UK, apart-hotels remain unrepresented and we are convinced in Manchester, Gateway House will be a great success.”
Realty’s plans also include offices at a mezzanine level between ground and first floor, and retail on the ground floor. Its plans for a 40,000 sq ft of new Grade A office space over seven floors set above a 7,000 sq ft retail unit, on a site behind Gateway House, are unchanged.
Realty’s agent could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Estates Gazette reports that Realty Estates has bought out Ask Developments’ share in the two companies’ joint venture that was formed to develop the former Boddingtons Brewery site.
Ask has confirmed the deal but no value was disclosed. So far only a Travelodge Hotel, funded by Preston-based Marcus Worthington, has been developed at the seven-acre site.
