LIVERPOOL’S Hope Street Hotel is bucking the recession and poised for big expansion with a £5m investment.
The Hope Street Hotel founder and chief executive Dave Brewitt has bought the adjoining derelict listed building complex.
He intends to convert the former Blind School, Trade Union & Unemployment Resource Centre and Flying Picket bar for mixed use over the next 18 months.
Mr Brewitt said: “This is the right time to start on the project, so we’ll be running when the economy finally picks up.”
The £5m scheme will include elements such as 40 serviced apartment bedrooms, gastro-pub, bistro, chocolatiere and coffee shop, Michelin-starred restaurant, spa and offices.
The complex, built between 1851 and 1931, is at a prime location opposite the Philharmonic Hall and Dining Rooms on the corner of Hope Street and Hardman Street.
It will increase the floorspace of the original 89-bedroom Hope Street Hotel by about 40% but it is uncertain if the hotel’s branding will be used for the new expansion. The Hope Street Hotel itself will not be expanded as Mr Brewitt regards the property as at its optimum size. Instead it will manage the serviced apartment rooms.
Mr Brewitt said: “We’re looking for independent or quality corporate ‘good neighbour’ businesses to lease the ground floors, which will support what we’re doing.”
While not revealing how much the Grade II-listed buildings cost him to buy from the estate of the late Gerry White, the Wirral developer, he said it was “slightly above” their market value.
