The future of Plymouth’s derelict waterfront hotel site could finally be settled this autumn as developers vie to build on the plot.
Plymouth City Council chiefs are in advanced talks with companies keen to take over the patch of land on the Hoe which would have been the site of the abandoned £50million 1690 Hotel.
Top , formerly home to the now demolished Quality Hotel, in November 2020 and received a lot in interest. That included 海角视频 and overseas developers – including from developers which had previously bid for the land.
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Council officers have whittled down the list and met with people behind the most promising schemes. These were able to then refine their proposals and it is hoped a legal agreement will be signed with one of them in the next few weeks.
“We have developers interested,” said Matt Ward, Plymouth City Council’s head of strategic development projects. “We have had interest from a number of parties and hope to be able to tie down an agreement this autumn.”
Developers were quick to react once the land, currently boarded up and overgrown with vegetation, went on the market.
“We had a number of proposals from developers and selected a small number of these and had informal discussions,” Mr Ward said. “We gave developers an opportunity to meet planning officers and they were able to make adjustments to their proposals.
“We gave these developers the opportunity to take feedback on board and they came back with proposals, and there are some good ones.”
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The council wants a high-quality, hotel-led, mixed-use development on the land and while proposals could include an element of residential use this is not a requirement.
The Joint Local Plan says any scheme going on that land has to be hotel led. It is also a manifesto pledge from the recently elected Tory administration that a hotel goes on that site.
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“And it is a key part of our visitor plan,” said Mr Ward. ”We need to provide high-quality hotel accommodation. So the most important thing is to get a high-quality hotel on that site.”
The elevated site, which extends to nearly a hectare and has panoramic sea views, was the site of the Quality Inn until it was demolished in 2016 and the site then cleared.
Later that year the council chose developer Henley Real Estate Development Ltd to deliver a scheme which would have seen a hotel, called 1620 to honour the Mayflower pilgrims, sited in front of an apartment block.
Plans for an 11-floor hotel with 80 beds, and a 15-floor block of 88 apartments, were approved in 2017 . The local authority was hoping the scheme would be finished in time for the Mayflower 400 celebrations in 2020. The “five-star” hotel was even to be called 1620 to mark the connection.
But the development never started with the council’s then Cabinet member for finance Mark Lowry said in 2020 that the company behind the plans had been unable to raise finance for the project.