A luxury hotel opportunity at Berkeley Group’s landmark One Blackfriars scheme has been bought by one of Canada’s largest privately owned property firms.
Realstar has agreed a deal with Berkeley subsidiary St George to buy the 999-year leasehold on the consented hotel for around £45m.
Permission is in place for an Ian Simpson Architects-designed 161-bedroom hotel that will sit next to Berkeley’s 50-storey residential tower, where flats are listed for as much as £23m.
The hotel, development of which is underway, will be operated by Amerimar under a franchise with Autograph Collection by Marriott.
Realstar’s London office was launched in 2002. It has accumulated an extensive portfolio comprising a number of hotels, student accommodation and residential blocks.
Its latest purchase is in line with the trend of North American capital chasing UK hotels.
In Q3, just over £1bn, equating to 58% of overall UK investment volume, came from North American investors, JLL said this week.
Recent deals include the £40m sale of Edinburgh’s 199–bedroom Roxburghe Hotel to US-based Starwood Capital. It is currently the largest post-recession single asset deal in Edinburgh.
Jon Hubbard, managing director in JLL’s hotels and hospitality group, said: “The significant increase in investment from North America in part reflects a re-allocation of funds as a result of US real estate becoming more expensive, and we predict that this trend will continue.”
CBRE and Knight Frank acted for Berkeley; Realstar was not advised.
