Sanguine’s Indigo hotel gets go-ahead
In a busy week for Liverpool's hotel market, a £14m hotel designed by Falconer Chester Hall has been approved by Liverpool City Council.
The 151-bed four-star luxury boutique hotel on Chapel Street will be developed by Simon Matthews-Williams' Sanguine Hospitality under the InterContinental Group's Hotel Indigo brand.
The £55m Hilton Liverpool opened on Tuesday and on Monday Benmore said it plans to build a new hotel on Dale Street.
The city has maintained hotel occupancy levels of 77% this year despite the recession and expanding capacity. The Capital of Culture year in 2008 saw 82% occupancy levels.
The Indigo hotel will be built on an infill site between Yorkshire House on Chapel Street and 1 Old Hall Street, home of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.
The site was formerly owned by developer Vermont Developments which planned a speculative office building before the downturn. Vermont Developments was put into administration in August 2008 after a residential development in Salford stalled.
The new hotel will feature an internal courtyard as well as a ground floor restaurant, bar, gym and café amongst its facilities.
"The approach to the Hotel Indigo brand is that each is unique to its location, using photography and artwork in the rooms for example to emphasise its local and unique identity," said FCH director Mark Doohan.
"In this case the site was a former trading spot for cotton and wine merchants so we're looking to draw on those influences in terms of materials and photography."
Work on site in Liverpool is expected to start in January and the hotel is due to open in Spring 2011.
Matthews-Williams opened the Crowne Plaza in Princes Dock, Liverpool in the late 1990s as the city's regeneration began to gather pace.
