Starwood Capital snaps up Renaissance Manchester
A joint venture between Property Alliance Group and Starwood Capital Group has acquired the Renaissance Manchester site from Urban & Civic with plans to redevelop it into a £200m mixed-use scheme.
The city centre site currently includes a 206-bedroom hotel, car park and office building, with plans to turn it into a new hotel, as well as office space, a car park and residential units. The Renaissance hotel, formerly operated by Marriott International, closed last year due to the impact of Covid-19 restrictions.
Timothy Abram, vice-president at Starwood Capital, said: "We have made several major investments in Manchester over the past decade and, following on from these successes, we are excited to have another opportunity to invest in the city. The redevelopment of this prime site has the potential to generate many economic benefits for Manchester and we hope this will be the first of many investments made through our new joint venture with Alliance."
Alex Russell, managing director of Alliance, added: "We are delighted to announce the acquisition of the Renaissance Manchester site and our new partnership with Starwood Capital.
"Starwood Capital is a likeminded partner that shares our vision and commitment to deliver this development. Our complementary skill sets and combined real estate experience, including Starwood Capital's unique hospitality track record, means we are well positioned to deliver a landmark scheme that will regenerate a key part of Manchester. We will now be working closely with Manchester City Council to develop our plans with the aim of presenting these over the coming months."
CBRE acted for Starwood Capital and Alliance on the acquisition. JLL and Savills advised Urban & Civic on the sale. Alliance was advised on legal matters by Shoosmiths and law firm Paul Hastings acted for Starwood.
US private investment company Starwood Capital Group is perhaps best known in the UK for creating the Principal brand of city centre hotels, which it sold in May 2018 for £858m to French investor Covivio. The group, overseen by chairman and chief executive Barry Sternlicht, teamed up with the Cairn Group to transform the former St Georges hotel near Oxford Circus into its debut property for the Treehouse brand in 2019, which at the time it hoped to expand.
As well as bringing its sustainable luxury 1 Hotels brand to Mayfair in 2022 following the refurbishment of the Holiday Inn London Mayfair, owned by Crosstree Real Estate Partners, the group has also previously confirmed its intention to bring its Baccarat brand to the UK. This year it is also set to relaunch the Grand Birmingham following an extensive restoration of the Grade II-listed property.
Photo: http://renaissancecitycentre.atmanchesterhotels.com/en/
