Business

Sale of Kenwright's prime Liverpool properties 'will help fund Belfast hotels'

Signature Livings' sale of two prime properties in Liverpool will help fund the George Best Hotel in Belfast
Signature Livings' sale of two prime properties in Liverpool will help fund the George Best Hotel in Belfast Signature Livings' sale of two prime properties in Liverpool will help fund the George Best Hotel in Belfast

LIVERPOOL developers Signature Living has confirmed that it is selling two of its most high profile hotels in the city - 30 James Street and the Shankly Hotel - to help it fund other projects including the George Best and Waring Hotels in Belfast.

Signature's boss Lawrence Kenwright said the sale of 30 James Street (valued at £17m) and the Shankly Hotel (it has a valuation of £40m) will allow him to pump further into his ambitious £150 million hotel expansion plans across the UK and Europe.

He hopes to open six more hotels this year, including Loyolla Hall (St Helens), The Dixie Dean Hotel (Liverpool), The Shankly Hotel (Preston) and Cavern Walks Hotel (Liverpool), along with the long-delayed two properties in Belfast.

Last month the Irish News reported that the 63-bedroom £15m George Best Hotel at the former Scottish Mutual building may not now open its doors until next year after yet another delay halted its progress, with additional work now required on some aspects of the listed building.

In addition to the George Best Hotel, Signature Living is behind the £20m transformation of the landmark Crumlin Road Courthouse into the 77-bedroom Crum Hotel and a 43-room hotel on Waring Street.

The Waring Hotel is set to open in its first phase at the beginning of September, while the Crumlin Road project may not be ready until late 2020.

Mr Kenwright said: “The sale of 30 James Street and The Shankly Hotel represent a significant milestone in the success of Signature Living.

“Currently the group operates a hotel and apartment portfolio valued at over £350 million. Signature Living has rewritten the rule book as an owner/hotel operator and has consistently outperformed all of the major branded hotel operators in the city of Liverpool with an occupancy level of 99.4 per cent.

“It’s now time to focus our attention on the next exciting phase of Signature Living with some incredibly exciting projects we have in the pipeline including three football themed hotels in Liverpool with the Dixie Dean hotel in homage to the Everton and England legend Dixie Dean, The Shankly Hotel in Preston and the George Best Hotel in Belfast.”

Signature Living confirmed last week that it had also bought out all of its overseas investors in 30 James Street from an initial five-year investment plan for £7.9m. The return on investment was 8 per cent plus a 3 per cent uplift, yielding returns of 11 per cent per annum on their original investment.

Both 30 James Street and The Shankly are firm favourites with celebrities and sports stars including Hollywood actor Tom Hardy, Jurgen Klopp, Kenny Dalglish, Paris Hilton, the Spice Girls, Girls Aloud, Jamie Carragher, boxer Tony Bellew, MMA star Conor McGregor and soap stars from Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks.