New buyer found for unfinished Hilton hotel

The Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Fletton Quays has been under construction for the past seven years

A Hilton hotel under construction for seven years has found a prospective new buyer, a local authority has confirmed.

Peterborough City Council said a firm offer had been made from an interested party to purchase and compete the nine-storey Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Fletton Quays.

It follows market testing carried out by the authority this year to see if anyone was interested in buying the hotel. If the new purchaser is approved, it would mean the council would recover a £17m loan it made to the original developer.

Members will be asked to approve the transfer of the hotel from the administrators to the interested bidder at a council meeting on October 15.

In 2017, the authority took out a £15m loan from the government to lend to a developer to build the hotel, but work stopped in 2020 when the company went into administration. The loan now has an outstanding balance of £17m, which includes interest.

Councillor Mohammed Jamil, cabinet member for corporate governance and finance, said: “The council has been very honest from the point the administrators were appointed that it would act in the best interests of taxpayers.

“This is why we have been exploring in tandem both the option to acquire the hotel ourselves, or to sell it to a third party, who can see it through to completion.

“Selling to a third party will not only allow the hotel to be completed as soon as possible, but also means that we will not have to incur the additional costs to complete the hotel."

He added: "This is really important at a time when we are facing huge financial pressures, including an £11m in-year overspend and a budget gap that could be as high as £24m next year.

“It remains our overriding priority to protect the investment made by the council so far and to see the hotel open as quickly as possible.”

Previously, council leader Dennis Jones told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, that the works to complete the hotel could start before winter and it could be operational by next summer.