| Insight Comment Office space to hotel conversions are going to happening all over the world following the pandemic as homeworking frees up old buildings for different uses. |
OakNorth Bank has provided a £34.3 million loan to a property business founded by entrepreneur, Alex Shamash, and joint venture partner Boscalt Hospitality for the development of a new luxury hotel in central London.
The capital will be used to convert the 15 Old Bailey property from office space into a new high-end offering.
The Victorian property was originally built as the Holborn Viaduct Hotel in 1874 but in the 1900s, was converted to office space. The new hotel will have around 110 bedrooms, a speakeasy restaurant and bar, along with full-service restaurant, and a gym.
Boscalt Hospitality is a member of Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity partnerships.
What They Said
Alex Shamash said: “Having secured planning permission, we have searched for the right funding partners for this project and we are pleased to have selected OakNorth. The fact that OakNorth Bank was able to structure a facility to enable us to refinance and develop the hotel, meant we could also focus on securing the right operator”.
Liza Masías from Boscalt Hospitality said: “We’re excited to bring this new hotel concept to market whilst preserving the building’s unique legacy and its 19th Century features. The hotel integrates the best market standards of sustainably and will feature a speakeasy bar and Levantine open kitchen restaurant concept”.
Deepesh Thakrar, senior director of debt finance at OakNorth Bank, said: “Alex Shamash and The Boscalt team have the proven track record and impressive experience in successfully completing large-scale property projects. With hospitality and occupancy levels anticipated to return to pre-pandemic figures over the next 12 months or so, we expect this hotel to be a welcome and successful addition to central London’s tourism scene. Given the historic significance of the building and the fact that it’s attracted a well-established brand as an operator, we wanted to design a facility that would enable Boscalt and Alex to move quickly and avoid the opportunity cost of having to secure financing for each stage of the project”.