City’s largest hotel snapped up by London property company as it splashes £109m nationally on acquisitions
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Plymouth’s largest hotel has been snapped up by a property company in a £30million deal.
The huge building that houses the 247-bed Jurys Inn, in Exeter Street, has been bought by London-based LXi REIT.
The property is fully let to Jurys Hotel Management (UK) Ltd, the principal trading company of the Jurys Inn group, with an unbroken 24-year unexpired lease term.
The hotel was purpose-built in 2007 and fully refurbished in 2016, and includes a bar, restaurant and 11 conference and meeting rooms.
The property is one of a number acquired by LXi around the country following capital raising earlier in the month.
The other properties are based in Edinburgh, East Fife, Carlisle and Corby and have been bought for a combined £109million.
Simon Lee, partner of LXi REIT Advisors Limited, said: “We are pleased to be investing just over £109million from our £175million capital raising announced on October 12.
“These are five high quality assets, diversified across a wide range of robust sub-sectors, leased to institutional grade tenants on very long term leases with inflation linked rents.
“The company is in solicitors’ hands on a range of further accretive acquisitions that meet our selective investment strategy and will deliver further value to our investors.
“These acquisitions will result in the full deployment of the recent capital raise in the next few weeks.”
The Jurys Inn hotel, which has about 80 staff, is the biggest in the city and one of the largest in Devon and draws significant custom from leisure tourism, with many overseas visitors, including bus tours, using the hotel as a base from which to explore Devon and Cornwall. and businesses linked to the maritime docks; and a strong relationship with the university.
The Jurys Inn portfolio comprises 36 hotels and 8,013 rooms in strategic locations in economically-strong and attractive destinations and transport hubs across the UK and Ireland.
The group was acquired in December 2017 by Fattal Group, an Israeli hotel group operating 160 hotels in 17 countries, for £800million.
The acquisition of the Jury’s Inn in Plymouth comes as the city is about to undergo a hotel building splurge with more than a dozen sites earmarked for new hotels.
Plans are in for all these hotels, but how many will actually end up being built?:
Derrys – 110 bedroom budget hotel
An additional four stories are being placed on top of the rear of the building, in the Courtenay Street area, that was once the Rileys snooker centre. That will become a 110-bedroom Premier Inn hotel (pictured above), in a £9.5million investment. The remainder of the former department stores is being turned into 500 student flats.
Western Gateway, Home Park – 116 beds with restaurants and gym
Commercial property experts have begun marketing space at the planned Higher Home Park and Western Gateway sites near the football stadium and Life Centre in Central Park. And they have revealed that the development will include two office blocks, a range of different sized restaurants, a gym and a 116-bed hotel – plus lots of car parking.
The Hoe – high-class high-rise 80-bed tower
Henley Real Estate is planning to build an apartment block called 1620 The Residences containing 88 “ocean fronting” flats in a 15-storey building. It will be linked to an 11-floor, 80-bed boutique luxury hotel, next door. Both buildings are planned to sit on the site of the now demolished Quality Hotel on the Hoe.
Drake’s Island – plush leisure complex with 43 rooms and suites
Plans have been unveiled for a £10million-plus hotel and spa complex on Drake’s Island. Engineering firm Rotolok Group, the island’s owner, secured planning consent secured in April 2017, and wants to transform the Grade II-listed Island House, Barracks Block and Ablutions building by linking them to form a hotel containing 25 double- and twin-bedrooms. The Casemates battery is planned to be transformed into 18 “luxury” bedroom suites with sea views.
Register Office – 11-floor hotel and conference centre
The Hoe register office could be replaced with an 11-storey hotel and conference centre according to the Plymouth and South Devon Joint Local Plan. Planning chiefs have considered designs for a striking new building matching the height of the nearby Holiday Inn.
Railway Station – £100million vision includes an 80-bed hotel
In 2016 a masterplan was unveiled which envisioned the Intercity House office block refurbished – or even knocked down – and escalators carrying passengers to Armada Way in a £100million development. New shops, offices and a “public space” were also included in the proposal, as is an 80-bed hotel, and it would also see demolition of the multi-storey car park at the station and a new one built in a different location. There could even be a bridge connecting the station to Central Park in a project now called Gateway.
Millbay boulevard – a 175-bed block for hip young things
Dutch-based Vastint Hospitality have submitted a hybrid application to put a 175-bedroom hotel, seven houses and seven studio apartments for short-term rent, on what is now the Pavilions car park. The idea is to open one of Marriott's Moxy hotels, designed for hip, young travellers.
Millbay docks – 155 rooms in a hotel next to 10 floors of flats
English Cities Fund (ECf), the company behind the long-term regeneration of Millbay, wants to see a 10-storey block of 58 apartments and a 155-bedroom hotel rise up on land known as Plot C1 off Millbay Road.
Money Centre – student flats next to 105-bed hotel
A project to bring student accommodation, retail space and a 105-bed hotel to Plymouth in the shape of a 21-storey redevelopment of the Money Centre site will create almost 400 jobs. Planning permission has been secured for a mixed use development. Plymouth City Council passed plans to demolish the existing building at Drake Circus.
City Centre – 95 rooms above Poundland
Plans have gone in for a 95-bedroom hotel above Poundland in Plymouth city centre under the global Oyo brand. The applicant Red Lion Estates Ltd wants to convert two upper floors of offices between New George Street and Cornwall Street. It has a contract with operator the Oyo Group to run the hotel under the name Plymouth Central.
In the pipeline:
Prince Rock and Laira Bridge
Hotels could be built on a playing field and the site of a former bus depot in the city, according to council chiefs. In the Plymouth and South Devon Joint Local Plan, the former Western National bus depot site on Laira Bridge Road has been earmarked for a mixed-used development incorporating either a hotel or retail and leisure facilities. The plan also suggests that a large playing field in nearby Prince Rock could be developed into a pub, restaurant or hotel.
Stonehouse Barracks
Stonehouse Barracks is to be transformed into 400 new homes and a high-quality hotel. The base, dubbed the spiritual home of the Royal Marines, is one of dozens of military sites across the country being sold off by the Ministry of Defence. No further details have been announced.
Plymouth Pavilions
Plymouth could get another new cinema and two hotels as part of a £65million redevelopment of the Pavilions site. Businessman James Brent, director of the holding company with owns the city’s largest concert space, said he has been approached by hotel and cinema companies eyeing the opportunity to build on part of the 6.5-acre Millbay lot.
But not happening:
Royal William Yard – Melville Building
In 2017 Urban Splash announced the Melville Building will be converted to a hotel, shops, restaurants and cafe, office, residential and non-residential institutions, assembly and leisure. But in late 2018 it was revealed a hotel would not happen because the building would be used as a cinema instead.
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