A DERELICT former Victorian warehouse in the heart of Liverpool city centre is to be converted into a luxury hotel, restaurant, bar and nightclub.
The Print building in Stanley Street has sat empty for four years but will be transformed in a £1.5m refurbishment by hotel and apartment group Signature Living.
The new development will give a face-lift to the building within the Mathew Street tourist quarter.
Work is scheduled to begin on the project in early December with an estimated completion date of March 2013, and will create 40 jobs.
Signature Living Director Katie Kenwright said: “We will tastefully transform a building which has been in desperate need of restoration for quite some time and our plans will help breathe new life into one of Liverpool’s main tourist areas as well as providing a boost to the local economy.”
The latest venture from Signature Living continues the ongoing expansion of the business which was started by Mrs Kenwright and her husband Lawrence with just one apartment in Liverpool city centre in 2008.
Earlier this year they renovated and re-opened the former Masonic Bank building on Bold Street as ‘The Vault’ comprising luxury apartments with facilities that include whirlpool baths, cinema screens as well as a function room spread over 3,000sq ft.
Mrs Kenwright said: “Our apartments on Victoria Street and Bold Street have captured the imagination of visitors to the city looking for somewhere new and unique to stay.
“They’ve been extremely successful but now we’re upping our game and expanding to create a hotel including a restaurant, members only bar and nightclub.
“Exclusivity is the order of the day where our Mathew Street project is concerned.”
The Print building was put up in 1884 and was originally used as a tea warehouse; it was later converted for use as a print works until 1965.
It has since had a variety of uses, and the first floor housed Liverpool band OMD’s recording studio in the early 1980s.
Signature Living has 300 beds in the city centre, and the company said its Bold Street venue has been a hit with a celebrity clientele. It has also been used as the backdrop for a number of high profile photo shoots.
