Hopes Peterborough's unfinished Hilton Garden Inn hotel could be opened by new operator before Christmas 2025

The currently unfinished Hilton Garden Inn Hotel site at Fletton Quays could be reopened as a hotel as soon as next year.

The council is on the verge of agreeing the sale of the hotel to an unnamed operator subject to all due diligence on the deal being passed.

The details of the agreement are confidential but the acquirers have committed to building a hotel at the site.

Councillor Mohammed Jamil, Cabinet Member for Finance & Corporate Governance, confirmed at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting that the deal will provide the council with a “good return.”

Cllr Jamil added: “This third party has come forward as a result of our soft marketing exercise and means that the council does not need to borrow to complete the hotel.

“The hotel can also be competed in a more timely way. A full business case has been completed and this is the preferred option.

"This has been dragging on for so long, we are the third administration dealing with this. I am hoping that his deal will soon be done. It is fast becoming a joke.”

The council’s Chief Finance Officer Cecilie Booth also confirmed that the council was hoping for the deal to be completed in the next four to six weeks and that the buyers have indicated that they aim to complete the hotel within 12 months of sealing the deal; adding “maybe in Christmas 2025 we can have a big party in the sky bar.”

The council took the original developer, Fletton Quays Hotel, into administration, in October last year after months in which no construction work was carried out.

The council took control of the hotel in June after submitting a £17 million credit bid to the administrators. The preferred option had been for the local authority to set up its own company to finish the building works and oversee its trading for a few years before selling it.

This has, however, been abandoned due to rising costs and risks around self-developing the hotel.