EasyHotel takes first North West site
An office in Liverpool's Castle Street has been sold and is set to be converted into an easyHotel, part of the budget hotel chain founded by easyJet tycoon Stelio Haji-Ioannou.
Merseyside Estates was the vendor of 47 Castle Street, which has 6,600 sq ft of offices over four floors and Salt House Bacaro restaurant on the ground floor.
Following the sale, work is set to begin on a £3m conversion to deliver 68 bedrooms on the upper floors, while the restaurant will remain operational underneath.
The hotel is due to open in spring 2016, subject to planning consent. The easyHotel will be the first branch in the region.
The property was sold by Smith & Sons on behalf of Merseyside Estates.
Sean Seery, partner at Smith & Sons, said: "We have managed 47 Castle Street for many years and identified EasyHotel as being a perfect fit and negotiated a sale.
"Easyhotel will offer low cost and quality city centre accommodation whilst popular restaurant, Salt House Bacaro will remain fully operational at the ground floor level."
A great location for an easyHotel and the building should really lend itself to the conversion with plenty of light. Castle Street is becoming a street of hotels and restaurants which can only be good for this most historic section of the World Heritage Site. The commercial district is consolidating around Old Hall Street and Liverpool Waters. The next step must be to improve the links between Liverpool Waters and Old Hall Street – and get Pumpfields redeveloped – to take the new commercial district to the next level as the old one continues to reinvent itself.
By Paul Blackburn
where is the pumpfields bit please?
By Annie Baines
Pumpfields is the name the Planners seem to have given to the area between Bath Street (dock road entrance to Liverpool Waters)and King Edward Sreet (edge of the Old Hall Street area of the commercial district). I think it used to be called the King Edward Street Industrial Area. It’s the obvious extension of the commercial district (comprising a relatively small area) and would improve the links to Liverpool Waters; as would better road crossings and ‘greening’ the ring where Liverpool Waters already abuts the commercial district. The ‘Pumpfields’ area has a bit of history I think and the old pumping station is an interesting bit of industrial archaeology which should probably be saved and incoporated into any redevelopment.
By Paul Blackburn