LaSalle Investment Management in £25.5m Motel One deal

LASALLE Investment Management has struck a £25.5m acquisition and funding deal for the construction of a budget hotel close to Piccadilly Station in Manchester.

It has bought the L-shaped plot that wraps around Monroe’s pub on Whitworth Street from Livia, a subsidiary of the London-based Olympian Group.

German chain Motel One has already agreed a 25-year for a 330-room hotel.

Until the summer the site was occupied by three Victorian buildings which have now been demolished. A lease was held by Julian Lyons who employed 60 staff working at the Hotel International, a pub called The Outpost and Legends nightclub. Legends was the location of the Twisted Wheel club in the 1960s after it moved from Brazennose Street.

The club was famous for being the starting point for the Northern Soul movement and this heritage was kept alive by a soul revival night which ran for 12 years but bowed out on December 30. The buildings were owned by Targetfollow and sold off when part of that business went into administration. They were picked up by Olympian Homes which secured planning consent in July 2012.

Livia will continue to handle the development which is due to be finished by April 2015. John Yeend, a director at LaSalle Investment Management, said: “This latest transaction expands our UK hotel ownership and secures a substantial new hotel for our portfolio let on a long index-linked lease and set in the heart of Manchester.

“We believe that Motel One will continue to grow in the UK and will become an established brand, as they are on the Continent. LaSalle Investment Management continues to be active in alternative property sectors, including hotels and
student housing. We are able to undertake complex development fundings alongside standing investment acquisitions and sale and leaseback transactions.”

LaSalle Investment Management was advised by Jones Lang LaSalle.