I am posting to update everyone what our latest understanding is of the new plans. The application is very hard to understand as a lot of the documents submitted are out of date, and I am still not sure all documents have been uploaded to the planning website.
The hotel is to be operated by a group called Starwood who have a lot of very upmarket hotels around the world under various brands. This hotel will belong to the 'W hotels' brand. Membership to their Preferred Guest scheme is free with an American Express platinum card.
The reason for the changes to the plans for the site is listed as "The approved building was developed for a three star/mid-range hotel operator. Design adjustments to the hotel building are now required to accommodate the requirements of the Starwood Hotel Group particularly as they relate to the W hotel, a five star plus brand."
Talking about other W hotel properties, of which this will be the first in the UK "From the range of potential hotel development locations across Manchester City Centre, the Origin scheme at the heart of the Village community was the hotel's preferred location. The vibrant character of the Village, its diversity, its nightlife and the quality of its built environment are all major factors. The site has parallels with a number of successful existing W Hotels which have located in 'off pitch' locations, often integrating with older buildings or neighbourhoods, and which have in a number of occasions successfully integrated with existing gay and lesbian communities.". Their latest Pride event list is found here.
The main proposed changes are:
- An extra 4 storeys, or 12.7m in height for the hotel building.
- Changing the central area to permit drop-off at the hotel entrance.
I will update here with more details of the changes as I can confirm them.
Chris
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