New company could created to complete Peterborough's partially built Hilton Garden Inn
Council poised to take control of Hilton Garden Inn
A new company could be created to oversee the completion of Peterborough City Council’s purchase and completion of the partly built Hilton Garden Inn.
Councillors are to be asked to approve the formation of a special business, and the appointment of its directors, that would allow the purchase of the hotel to be completed.
The move comes after the council’s £16.7 million credit bid for the nine-storey hotel at Fletton Quays was approved last month by administrators.
Members of the council’s ruling cabinet will be told on July 16 that transferring the hotel into a wholly owned company will be a ‘prudent’ action for legal and tax reasons.
It will mark the end of a nine-month-long process that began with the council taking the hotel developer, Fletton Quays Hotel, into administration last October after a prolonged period in which no construction work was carried out to the hotel.
The council is the preferred creditor having provided a £15 million loan to the developer in 2017 to kick start building work on the 160-bedroom hotel. With interest, the value of the loan stands at £16.7 million.
Cabinet members will be told that a third party bid for the hotel was not deemed to be acceptable.
They will also be told that a business case is being prepared to examine how the council could complete the hotel by itself or if it should be sold on for completion.
In addition a ‘soft-marketing’ exercise is to be carried out over six weeks to assess market interest in the building.