Hotel conversion plan for Borough High Street office block
Plans to convert an office building in Borough High Street into a 47-bedroom hotel have been submitted to Southwark Council.
Developers Create Real Estate have submitted a planning application to Southwark Council for change of use of the office building at 291-299 Borough High Street.
In a letter enclosed with the planning application, Richard Dawes of consultants Savills wrote: "The fundamentals of the proposed hotel are that it would offer a modern, boutique / lifestyle hotel located within minutes walk of Borough underground station.
"Given the constraints at ground floor and the wealth of local leisure and restaurant provision, the proposed hotel is ideal for a limited food & beverage provision, and demand from more hotel bedroom focused operators is strong, both domestically and international.
"Operators from a range of domestic and international hotel groups are actively seeking this type of hotel and there are numerous, exciting concepts that would add to the existing, limited hotel provision in the immediate area, catering for both leisure and corporate travellers."
The developer claims that the building is difficult to let in its current form as the location is unattractive to prospective office tenants.
A report from BBG real estate advisors included with the planning application says: "Rental values generally decline as you head south down Borough High Street and it is very difficult to get commercial tenants to consider buildings south of the junction of Borough High Street and Great Dover Street / Marshalsea Road.
"The result is significant incentives in terms of reduced rent and increased rent free which makes the economics of developing new office buildings unviable. As a result, there are no new office developments in the vicinity."
On the ground floor of the building, the unit previously occupied by betting shop William Hill has been empty for several years.
Until last month one of the retail units was occupied by printing and copying firm Copyprints Ltd. The closure of Copyprints marked the end of a 65-year history since the shop was founded by Jack Hames in 1959.
