‘Hotel deal’ could net Cheltenham £20m - or could it?
When we published news Cheltenham Borough Council had found a preferred bidder for the town’s Grade II-listed municipal offices we missed out an important voice; its take... ‘approach with caution'.
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As for the story below, you may have seen our article last week on the potential sale of Cheltenham’s municipal offices (more here). Here’s the latest instalment. Read between the lines if you can.
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‘Hotel deal’ could net Cheltenham £20m - or could it?
When we published news Cheltenham Borough Council had found a preferred bidder for the town’s Grade II-listed municipal offices we missed out an important voice; its take... ‘approach with caution'.
When we took a look at the borough council’s announcement that it had found a preferred bidder for its 68,290 sq ft Grade II*-listed municipal offices, that have been its home for more than 100 years, we missed out an important voice.
And that organisation’s take on the news is that the deal could deliver both a welcome boost to the town economically and also a £20 million windfall from the sale of the building.
But it also had a caveat, that as exciting as it all sounds, we should all ‘approach with caution’.
Being a publication dedicated to business it was in that direction we gravitated in our initial story, speaking to theCheltenham’s chamber of commerce, its Business Improvement District (Cheltenham BID) and Visit Cheltenham - plus firing a few extra questions back at the local authority too.
All of which resulted in a story we like to think added vital detail to the borough’s press release, seized upon and published in full by all and sundry.
What we missed out in that story was what Cheltenham Civic Society thought, not least because it was still digesting the news.
But we were keen to hear. Everyone else we spoke to mentioned how important it was for any project to also preserve the town’s heritage.
We now have the civic society’s statement.
Plans on the table currently are for Mario San Jacinto, of Almiranta Capital Ltd, to take forward a project to deliver what the borough is calling “a luxury brand hotel, offering 125 rooms, a spa, event, banqueting and conference space” for an as yet unnamed end user.
Should it go ahead, the society suggests it would lead to a staggering multi-million-pound windfall for the borough, that would enable it to deliver “much needed and desirable improvements” for Cheltenham.
But it also had words of caution, citing the time it’s taken to deliver any meaningful transformation of the nearby Cavendish House building, once the town’s flagship department store and a building still searching for a viable long-term identity.
Andrew Booton, Cheltenham Civic Society’s chairman, said: “It is very encouraging that developers believe that the council’s office building in the Prom (Promenade) may have a viable future as an upmarket hotel.
“While there have been a number of budget hotel developments over the years, Cheltenham has not seen a significant expansion of luxury hotel accommodation in many decades – most of the upmarket hotel developments having been restorations and upgrades of existing accommodation.
“The Grade II* listed municipal building already benefits from just looking like a classy hotel. And introducing such a use into what is perhaps the most prestigious part of the Prom could generate a major uplift to the vitality of the town centre.
“However, it is very early days and we must be cautious about the deliverability of such a scheme. Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) has been in talks with the owners of Cavendish House for more than four years now and we have yet to see a planning application.
“If it takes anywhere near as long to bring this hotel proposal forward, the risk looms large that both the municipal offices and Cavendish House could be boarded up at the same time – which, if allowed to happen, could have a very adverse impact on the rest of the Prom.
“But the long-term benefits of this hotel scheme could be huge. Not only would the town centre gain an increase in business, footfall and overall vitality, but CBC itself could benefit from the sale – potentially to the tune of £20 million or more.
“That would enable it to both rehouse itself and undertake some much-needed and desirable improvements to the town centre.
“Though whether in fact CBC would be the beneficiary will depend on the move towards creating one or more unitary authorities for Gloucestershire.
“We look forward to engaging with the developer over the coming months.
“They might also find it informative to read the civic society’s thoughts on a town centre masterplan that we published in our quarterly newsletter, OurTown, during 2022 and 2023.”
Raikes approached the borough council to ask if there was any news on Cavendish House, and to ask if the £20 million figure was one it recognised.
We were told that “while the council’s spending allocations and decisions are public record, the figure being proposed for the purchase information is commercially sensitive so we are not able to comment. The council do not own Cavendish House, so we can’t provide a comment”.
To try and get you a better perspectivewe turned instead to Dorian Wragg, partner and head of commercial property at chartered surveyor and property experts Bruton Knowles.
Wragg pointed out that away from the headlines alternative uses for the building had actually been explored on and off for the last decade, not least by Bruton Knowles itself.
It was, he said, “not a straight forward site” to develop, and it was understandable that some would speculate about just what demand there might be for another luxury hotel just yards away from The Queens Hotel and the boutique hotel 131, owned by Julian and Jade Dunkerton, both of which overlook nearby Imperial Square and Gardens.
However, in a sector where confidence can mean so much - and be the deal clincher - Wragg also had this to say, which we think speaks volumes of where Gloucestershire finds itself currently as well as being a good note to end this instalment of the municipal offices saga on.
“The town has the festivals and we do have the Golden Valley Development coming to fruition (the major housing and business park development beside GCHQ valued at £1 billion). That could be transformative.
“The people visiting as a result will need somewhere to stay and you need infrastructure here already if you want to capitalise.
“So if you take that view you need to get in there first and build it.
“Whatever we might think, outside of the county there is a real perception that Gloucestershire is a place where there is opportunity and growth and that it is a good place to do business.
“If we can all keep being confident and stay on the front foot, the county should only benefit.”