Office and industrial specialist Opus Land is to enter the leisure sector after tying up a £400m jv with Cendant Corporation.
The West Midlands-based developer has been selected by the venture capitalist to build 120 Days Inn budget hotels, a franchise operation, throughout the country. The strategy, to be partly funded by the Bank of Scotland, is due for completion by the end of 2007.
Palmer Capital Partners subsidiary Opus said it had been trying to break into the lower-end hotel market for the past year.
Andrew Duncan, Opus’s joint managing director, said: “The top-end, four- and five-star market has really hit the top already and has little growth prospects.
“However, we want to concentrate on two- and three-star accommodation, where there is opportunity for growth, and have already highlighted 40 potential sites. We are considering placing a number of hotels on our existing industrial and office schemes.”
Opus has traditionally concentrated on office, industrial and distribution projects, including the £150m The Hub in Birmingham; a 110,000 sq ft (10,219 sq m) office at Greyfriars, Bristol; and a 500,000 sq ft (46,450 sq m) industrial building in Wednesbury.
Days Inn, which includes the Days Hotels brand, is one of the world’s largest hotel brands with over 1,800 properties in 14 countries. Its portfolio already includes 30 sites in the UK, constructed over the past three years.
Opus will be looking for sites of at least one acre (0.4ha), capable of housing hotels with upwards of 100 bedrooms. Each hotel will be built within 30 weeks and Opus has said it wants sites close to motorways, town and city centres, mixed-use schemes and business parks.
Opus is looking at sites at its own schemes in the Midlands, as well as other sites in Glasgow, Newcastle, South Coast, East Anglia and Wales. The first hotels are expected to be in the North West and Midlands.
References: EGi News 16/02/04
