easyHotel books into Birmingham

easyHotel has acquired a 125 year leasehold on the 30,000 sq ft office property at 81-91 John Bright Street from Birmingham Properties Group. It intends converting the building into an easyHotel. The purchase of the property is subject to planning.
If approved, the hotel would comprise 84 rooms and purchase and conversion costs are estimated to be £4.5m, translating into a total cost per room of £53,600.

Nick Raven, partner at Hanover Green, which advises easyHotel, said: “This is the fourth recent purchase in the UK by easyHotel and follows acquisitions in Manchester, Liverpool and Ipswich. We have a UK mandate to buy sites and are actively looking for investment opportunities in most major cities.”

In today’s EGM easyHotel CEO Guy Parsons said: “Along with its six universities and internationally reputed arts scene, Birmingham is also the UK’s fourth largest tourist destination with 34m visitors in 2014. We see significant opportunity for easyHotel to service business customers and leisure visitors to Birmingham’s lively events programmes and look forward to building our brand presence in the city.”

The company owns and operates three owned hotels and 18 under franchise across the UK. Hanover Green advises easyHotel.