Iconic city hotel sold for £53m
Swedish hotel property firm Pandox have bought the 232-room Queens Hotel from real estate investors Aprirose for £53m.
Pandox, which operates 157 hotels in 15 countries, said it will operate the Queens as an independant brand with Axiom Hospitality. The sale price represents a stabilised yield of 9%.
Liia Nõu, chief executive of Pandox, said, “We are pleased to acquire the iconic and market leading The Queens Hotel in central Leeds. The hotel is located next to the city’s largest square and the central station, attracting both leisure and business travellers.
“The hotel product is in very good condition after a newly completed renovation. The transaction is made at an attractive yield, and we see good potential to further increase the hotel’s return over time through active measures in operation, organization and product offering.”
In recent years Aprirose and its dedicated hotel management platform Almarose has executed a major renovation of the hotel, which includes an upgrade of all bedrooms, adding 17 more rooms, and repositioning all public areas, restaurants and bars.
Manish Gudka, chief executive of Aprirose, said: “We are pleased to have executed the sale of this asset to deliver on our strategy for the property. Having followed our investment with a substantial and carefully considered capital expenditure programme to reposition the hotel, we have created value and generated a good return for our investors, exemplifying our overall approach to real estate investment.
“The hotel and leisure sector remains an important focus for our business, and we continue to look for opportunities to deploy our capital in high quality, well-located buildings in growth areas.”
Almarose currently manages 20 properties within The QHotels Collection, including Oulton Hall in Yorkshire and Slaley Hall hotel and luxury golf resort in Northumberland.
