UK: OakNorth has completed on a £34.4 million loan to Alex Shamash and Boscalt Hospitality to restore 15 Old Bailey in London and convert the office into a luxury hotel.
Boscalt Hospitality, a fund that is a member of Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity partnerships, purchased the building in summer this year.
Plans call for an upper-upscale 110-bedroom hotel with a gym, restaurant and bar. The capital secured from OakNorth will fund the conversion following ESG standards.
Deepesh Thakrar, senior director of Debt Finance at OakNorth Bank, said: “Alex Shamash and The Boscalt team have the proven track record and impressive experience in successfully completing large-scale property projects. With hospitality and occupancy levels anticipated to return to pre-pandemic figures over the next 12 months or so, we expect this hotel to be a welcome and successful addition to central London’s tourism scene. Given the historic significance of the building and the fact that it’s attracted a well-established brand as an operator, we wanted to design a facility that would enable Boscalt and Alex to move quickly and avoid the opportunity cost of having to secure financing for each stage of the project.”
Liza Masías from Boscalt Hospitality said: “We’re excited to bring this new hotel concept to market whilst preserving the building’s unique legacy and its 19th Century features. The hotel integrates the best market standards of sustainably and will feature a speakeasy bar and Levantine open kitchen restaurant concept.”
Shamash added: “Having secured planning permission, we have searched for the right funding partners for this project and we are pleased to have selected OakNorth. The fact that OakNorth Bank was able to structure a facility to enable us to refinance and develop the hotel, meant we could also focus on securing the right operator.”
