Pair of region’s top large hotels are up for sale
Business writer TWO of the region’s best known large hotels have been put up for sale as part of a major property deal.
The Newcastle Marriott Gosforth Park Hotel and its counterpart on the seafront at Sunderland are being advertised as part of a lot of five Marriott sites that have gone onto the market.
Both hotels are well-known as popular event venues, with the Gosforth Park site being the long-term home for the Tyneside and Northumberland Business Awards and the North East Business Executive of the Year event.
Built in 1965, the Gosforth Park Hotel has welcomed countless North East, national and international TV and film stars, sporting stars and rock bands.
For the last 18 years it has traded under the Marriott banner and is the headline site of the Project Royale lot being marketed by leisure property specialist Christie & Co.
The asking price for the hotels is not known, nor whether the hotel staff form part of each deal.
But the hotels are being advertised as being “free and clear of the current Marriott branding and management, providing for re-positioning and rebranding opportunities” – suggesting the Marriott name is likely to go.
The Gosforth Park Hotel was owned by Scottish & Newcastle Breweries and run by Thistle Hotels as a Swallow hotel. In 2000 it became the Marriott and has operated under the chain’s branding since then, though its owners have changed over the years.
Hotel operators Whitbread sold it, along with 46 other hotels, in a £951m deal to Royal Bank of Scotland in 2006, but within nine months the properties had been sold off for £1.1bn to Delek Real Estate and a host of partners including Israel’s Electra Real Estate and FIBI Investment, and Dublinbased Quinlan Private.
Marketing details for the five-storey Gosforth hotel highlight its 178 en-suite rooms, car parking for 300 cars, extensive conference and events rooms, the on-site Cast Iron Grill restaurant and Brew Bar Lounge, and a leisure club comprising a heated indoor pool, sauna, steam room and gym.
A two-storey former staff block, based to the rear of the hotel, is included in the sale and offers potential new owners redevelopment opportunities, the documents say.
The sale documents add: “The Newcastle Marriott Gosforth Park hotel is primarily a corporate-focused hotel due to its extensive meeting and event space and highly accessible location.
“The hotel is also popular on the weekend for leisure guests visiting the city, nearby racecourse or for other sports and leisure activities.”
Meanwhile, the 82-bed Sunderland Marriott Hotel in Queens Parade, Seaburn, is also up for sale with Christie & Co highlighting its five conference and events rooms, leisure club and pool.