Dutch pension fund manager APG has teamed up with London Central Portfolio on a new joint venture, starting with a deal to buy Kensington’s Harrington Hall Hotel.
The hotel acquisition will be the first in a string of purchases to provide an “all-suite, lifestyle hotel brand” for “budget-conscious” travellers.
The Harrington Hall Hotel (pictured) has been on the market for some time. The vacant 200-bed hotel was put up for sale by its owner Olayan Group last year, for more than £130m.
It followed separate failed attempts to sell the property in 2017. Its previous owner, Spanish Group NH Hotels, sold the hotel to Olayan Group in 2014 for £90m.
LCP will be the operating partner in the new venture, and will oversee the hotel’s design and development. It is expected to reopen in spring 2022.
Robert-Jan Foortse, head of European property investments at APG, said: “The Harrington Hall Hotel in South Kensington will act as a cornerstone for a new lifestyle brand of all-suite hotels which will be located in key micro-markets across prime central London.
“With our partner, LCP, we intend to create a new type of accommodation for the prime central London market which is cutting edge in terms of placemaking, while also promoting the highest standards in environmental and social responsibility.”
Naomi Heaton, founder and chief executive of LCP, said the brand will “showcase the best in British design with a focus on sustainability and green technologies”.
She added that further acquisitions will be made shortly across central London’s “prime neighbourhoods”.
APG is an active investor in the hotel sector; its hotel investments currently amount to more than €2bn (£1.7bn).
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