Maple Grove offloads Cathedral Quarter hotel
Maple Grove Developments, part of the Eric Wright Group, has sold a 60-bedroom Premier Inn hotel and 3,500 sq ft restaurant currently under construction at Blackburn Cathedral Quarter to Lancashire County Pension Fund for £4.8m.
Knight Frank Investment Management bought the building on behalf of the pension fund. The sale price represents a net yield of 5.79%.
The Cathedral Quarter is a £16m regeneration project, led by Blackburn with Darwen Council and Maple Grove Developments. The scheme will create a mixed-use commercial quarter around the Cathedral fronting the railway station and a new bus interchange.
The development, which is being built by Eric Wright Construction, is scheduled for completion at the end of September 2015, with the Premier Inn due to open on 9 November 2015.
The scheme is expected to total 118,000 sq ft including the Premier Inn hotel, restaurants, shops, 37,000 sq ft of offices and a Clergy Court which will house the Dean and Canons and lay staff in a building adjacent to Blackburn Cathedral.
The project is being funded by the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership, Homes & Communities Agency, Blackburn with Darwen Council and the European Regional Development Fund.
