Private equity firm HIG Capital has appointed agents to find buyers for the freehold of the £250m GDV Morley House hotel development site at 26-30 Holborn Viaduct, EC1.
Savills and Cushman & Wakefield have been jointly appointed by affiliates of HIG Capital to explore a sale. Nearby tenants include Goldman Sachs, which has its London head office at Plumtree Court, 25 Shoe Lane, EC4, and Amazon Web Services at 60 Holborn Viaduct, EC1.
The site has planning permission in place and allows for around 140,000 sq ft of floorspace. Under existing plans, the property would be demolished and replaced with an 11-storey hotel, with features including a rooftop bar and events space.
Shiva Hotels, which was granted planning consent in 2017, previously bought Morley House from the Crown Estate for £40m in 2014.
The news comes after HIG Capital formed a joint venture with Shiva in February this year for two luxury hotels in London, having previously provided £76m in mezzanine financing for three Shiva properties in 2022.
Rob Stapleton, head of hotel capital markets at Savills, said: “During some of the successful hotel development-led sales that Savills advised on in London last year, we identified Morley House as one of the few prime, ready-to-go hotel projects in London.
“We believe there is also substantial investor demand for such high-quality product in light of the lack of supply in key markets in London and the exceptional [average daily rate] growth in 2023 and projected for the next few years.”
Richard Candey, partner at Cushman & Wakefield, added: “Opportunities for buyers to shape a ground-up hotel development to their specific brand requirements are few and far between. Operationally, London hotels have continued to outperform, and we have seen this translate into positive investor engagement and pricing levels.”
Image courtesy of Savills
Send feedback to Pui-Guan Man
Follow Estates Gazette
