New 'four star-plus' hotel planned for Liverpool city centre » Communities » 24dash.com

Plans to revive and extend a Grade II listed building in central Liverpool into a four star-plus hotel have been submitted to city planners.

The Watson building, situated next to the former Lewis’s department store on Renshaw Street, and the neighbouring former Rapid Hardware paint shop, were acquired by Central Regeneration Limited Partnership, a joint venture comprising Merepark and Irish developer Ballymore, in late 2007.

The 70,000 sq ft Watson building will be extended onto the site of the former Rapid Hardware paint shop to form a 170,000 sq ft, 180 bedroom, four star-plus hotel designed by Woods Bagot. An international hotel operator has already been secured. The scheme’s approval would secure a further £50m investment for the city centre.

If approved, the joint venture partners will be rejuvenating the mainly unoccupied Watson building, making full use of the seven floors and adding an eighth and ninth. The basement will provide underground parking for 16 cars, accessible from Cropper Street.

Stephan C Reinke RIBA FAIA, Managing Director of Woods Bagot, the architects behind both Central Village and proposals for the Watson building, said: “The plans for this culturally significant site are all about the business of place making.  Designing a quality hotel is integral to regeneration, as attracting tourists to Central Village would allow the location to develop as a truly mixed use scheme for Liverpool. 

“Merepark and Woods Bagot are committed to regenerating this important part of the city - the urban fabric of this site where Ropewalks and Mount Pleasant meet at the historic Newington Crossing date back as far as the late 1700s.

"The architectural composition that is part of this planning proposal plays on the classical ordering of the adjacent building with an exuberant 21st Century companion.”

This planning application follows Merepark and Capital and Counties’ £105m proposal to transform the Lewis’s building into a ‘full and vibrant mixed use leisure destination’.

A decision on this scheme, which will see the building’s frontage cleaned and its original features retained, is expected later this year. 

Ian Jones, director of Merepark, part of Central Regeneration, said: “Working closely with our architects, Woods Bagot, we have developed a scheme which responds well to the local surroundings and provides another dynamic link to Central Village.

"Sustainability is at the centre of our vision and we’re confident that this proposal, combined with our plans for the Lewis’s building and Central Village, will result in an exciting mixed-use quarter that brings new purpose and opportunity to the city.”

A planning decision is expected by mid-Summer and if successful, Central Regeneration hopes to be on site before the end of 2008.