Fast-growing Dutch hotel chain citizenM has secured its third London site in as many years.
The group, set up by Mexx founder Rattan Chadha, is to develop a 243-bedroom hotel as part of the £100m Citicape House development near trendy Farringdon.
CitizenM, backed by Dutch civil service pension fund AGP Investments, has entered a joint venture with CHIL, the owners of 61-65 Holborn Viaduct and 37-41 Snow Hill, EC1, for the mixed-use project.
Alongside the hotel, CHIL will develop 80,000 sq ft of offices, replacing the 84,000 sq ft office building on the site, close to the historic Smithfield Market and City Thameslink station.
Construction on the project, which will be managed by Beacon Wood, is set to start this year, with a planned opening in 2013.
It is the group’s fourth UK site, having opened a 198-bedroom hotel in Glasgow in 2010.
It is also on track to open a 192-bedroom hotel on Lavington Street, SE1, in the Bankside area near the Tate Modern, in the second quarter of this year. The hotelier is in negotiations with Tower Hamlets council over plans for a 370-bedroom, nine-storey hotel at Tower Hill House at 38-40 Trinity Square, EC3, on a site it bought from fund manager Greycoat.
Chadha said the acquisition of the Citicape House project alongside its other developments showed that the group was “truly establishing itself as a central London hotel developer, investor and operator”.
He added: “We are still not finished and will keep looking for many more suitable opportunities on prime locations.”.
