SACO Property Group, the development arm of SACO The Serviced Apartment Company, has acquired its ninth site as it expands Locke lifestyle aparthotel concept.
The site, to be known as Whitworth Locke, is the group’s first hotel in Manchester and will offer 150 bedrooms, a gym, multiple independent food and beverage offerings, co-working space and meeting rooms.
The scheme will be located on the corner of Princess Street and Whitworth Street, the site of the former Atrium Serviced Apartments, which was previously operated by BridgeStreet Worldwide. SACO has acquired BridgeStreet from real estate funds managed by Blackstone.
The site is within walking distance of Piccadilly Station and close to Starwood Capital’s recently launched Principal Hotel.
SACO Property Group will undertake an extensive refurbishment programme to bring it in line with the existing Locke brand. The new hotel will have a phased opening, beginning in March 2018 and completing by June 2018.
Earlier this year, SACO announced ambitious plans for the expansion of its Locke aparthotel concept, which aims to bridge the gap between contemporary lifestyle hotels and design-led serviced apartments.
The first Locke property opened in east London in October 2016 and SACO has been assembling a pipeline of new sites since. Locke’s second property, Eden Locke, is due to open in Edinburgh in July 2017, offering 72 design-led suites, while an additional site in east London has just been submitted for planning.
Since the start of the year, SACO has secured additional development opportunities in London, Cambridge and Dublin, adding some 900 units to its existing pipeline of 1,200 under operation. This will see its portfolio reach at least 2,000 units by 2020. The group is also targeting further acquisitions in Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Dublin and Hamburg.
Ben Harper, SACO’s commercial director, said: “We have been focused on securing sites for the expansion of the Locke brand and Manchester was a natural target. We know the city well as we have operated there under the SACO brand for a number of years. This new opening gives us an opportunity to operate the two aparthotels under both SACO and Locke brands in Manchester.”
With £100m of equity to deploy in 2017, the group aims to continue its pace of opening 1,000 units pa.
CBRE represented Blackstone.
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