Belfast: George Best hotel building put up for sale

The Scottish Mutual Building was bought by Liverpool developer Lawrence Kenwright in 2017

The building that was supposed to house the George Best hotel in Belfast has been put up for sale.

The Scottish Mutual Building was bought by the Liverpool developer Lawrence Kenwright in 2017.

His company, that was developing the property, went into administration in 2020 without the hotel ever opening its doors.

A court case, which had been delaying efforts to sell the building, was resolved last month.

Small investors in the hotel project had been trying to delay the sale in the hope that a new developer would work with them to recoup their money.

'Investors put in almost £6m'

Individual investors put in almost £6m to buy bedrooms from which they hoped to earn a return.

However, they ranked behind the major lenders to the project, a finance firm called Lyell Trading.

The administrators had asked the judge to make an order to remove liens, or legal claims, which the bedroom investors had over the project.

That order will now allow the building to be sold and Lyell to recoup some of its debt.

The sales agents, Colliers, say the hotel conversion started in 2019 but building work had stopped by the end of that year.

Works completed include the formation of bedrooms, a new lift shaft and new windows.