UK: Almost £70 million of new funding from Coutts and Clydesdale Bank Plc has been secured by Dominvs Group for two hotels in London and Oxford.
£48 million from Coutts will fund the development of a Hampton by Hilton hotel in London’s Aldgate. Construction is expected to be completed in June 2023 and will comprise a refurbishment of the existing hotel with a new-build extension. McAleer and Rushe will oversee the build.
Dominvs Group purchased the hotel, located at 12-20 Osborn Street, in October 2018. The funding from Coutts covers the refinance of the original acquisition loan as well as the development.
The remaining £20.5 million investment loan from Clydesdale Bank Plc will go towards the Courtyard by Marriott Oxford City Centre hotel. It will refinance an incumbent loan that funded the development of the hotel, which was completed in July 2019. An 11-room extension opened in January 2020.
Dominvs bought the site, located at Paradise Street, in October 2014. It was formerly the headquarters of Cooper Callas, a kitchen and bathroom distributor. Planning permission for a 140-key hotel was obtained in 2017, with construction undertaken by McAleer and Rushe.
Preeptal Ahluwalia, director at Dominvs Group, said: “The successful funding reflects our good banking relationships and confidence in the group’s development and operational capabilities, alongside rising optimism in the UK hotel industry following the start of the COVID-19 vaccination programme in the UK. It is excellent to see confidence in the hotel industry returning and these two hotels are well-placed to benefit from the gradual return of both domestic and overseas visitors to London and Oxford, two of the UK’s most popular tourist and business trip hotspots and destinations of increasing hotel need.”
By May 2021, the UK government forecast that a third of the UK’s population will have been vaccinated against Covid-19. By summer 2021 around 50 per cent of the population should be immunised, with international flights and tourism starting to recover. The vaccination of the entire UK is estimated to take up to 12 months, with normality returning by November 2021.
Dan Williams, head of hotel and real estate finance at Clydesdale Bank, joined BHN news editor Eloise Hanson in the Trailblazer webinar boutique hotel investment and finance. Click here to watch the recording.
