Assetz plans ‘budget-boutique’ hotel for Preston
Manchester-based Assetz Development is preparing to submit a planning application in the coming weeks for a hotel and office scheme in Preston city centre.
The 104-bedroom and 15,000 sq ft serviced office building, designed by Buttress Fuller Alsop Williams on Guildhall Street, will be the first of a new brand being launched by Assetz, yet to be announced.
The concept could potentially be rolled out across other towns and cities and Assetz is currently seeking to acquire prime city centre sites.
The hotel will offer 'budget-boutique' rooms, smaller than average but with better décor and facilities. The serviced offices will aim to offer the same quality of service as a hotel.
Patrick Seed, development director of Assetz, said: "We are aiming at the business traveller who wants quality but is being forced to trade down by his finance director from the Holiday Inn at £120 a night."
Assetz is in talks with potential operators to run both the hotel and serviced offices.
The offices and ground floor reception to the seven-storey building would be built traditionally, but the hotel rooms will be prefabricated off site and craned into position.
Subject to planning – the site has consent for a hotel obtained by a previous owner – Seed hopes to be on site in the first quarter of 2009 for a 12-month build.
The hotel rooms are being offered for sale to investors for rental income rather than for conventional capital growth. The average price of a room to buy will be £79,000 and Assetz will guarantee income of 8% a year for the first three years.
