‘Huge potential’: Premier Inn parent firm buys office building in Leeds centre with plans for new hotel
Premier Inn parent firm Whitbread PLC has announced that it has aquired a 42,000 sq ft office building in Leeds with plans to transform it into a new hotel.
Whitbread has acquired the freehold for Verity House, which is located in the South Bank area of Leeds City Centre, which it intends to redevelop into a Premier Inn hotel offering around 120 bedrooms, subject to planning permission.
The firm said the detached building, which was built in 2000 is “strategically positioned for re-use as a hotel” given its city centre location and proximity to Leeds Railway Station, which is less than a three-minute walk away.
Whitbread intends to retrofit the L-shaped building into a Premier Inn hotel and seek planning consent for an extension.
Jill Anderson, acquisitions manager for Whitbread, said: “Whitbread has a long and successful track record of converting office buildings into popular budget hotels. It is a proven route to expanding our presence in popular locations like Leeds City Centre where development opportunities are limited and where we have a requirement to grow.
"Converting offices into hotels also provides obvious benefits to the environment by extending the life of existing buildings and reducing the embodied carbon of development.”
Whitbread PLC is also the owner of restaurant brands including Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table, Bar + Block, Whitbread Inns and Cookhouse + Pub.
The acquisition of Verity House grows the company’s secured development pipeline in Leeds City Centre to two locations and more than 250 pipeline bedrooms.
The firm currently holds eight trading locations across the city, including at Leeds / Bradford Airport.
To the east of the city centre, Premier Inn is also the hotel occupier of the Leeds Kirkgate redevelopment being brought forward by Leeds City Council.
Planning permission for the development was granted in December 2023, with the Premier Inn hotel set to offer 143-bedrooms as well as a bar and restaurant for guests.
Ms Anderson added: “Verity House makes for a superb hotel location given its proximity to the station and all the amenities in Leeds City Centre.
"It complements our existing network of eight Premier Inn’s across the city and as a freehold purchase it demonstrates Whitbread’s willingness to take on planning and development risk to secure exceptional locations for our guests.
"The location has huge potential and I’m looking forward to working with the City Council’s planning team on repurposing the building.”
Whitbread announced last week that it had ramped up cost saving plans after its profits slumped in the first half of the year, but said that recent weeks had seen an improvement in trading.
The group posted a 22 per cent drop in pre-tax profits to £309m for the six months to August 29, adding that it was now aiming to cut costs by £60m over the full year, up from a previous target of £40m to £50m.
On an underlying basis, pre-tax profits fell 13 per cent to £340m.