An old Victorian office block in the heart of Glasgow's International Financial Services District is to be developed into a GBP11.5m boutique hotel.
The project will transform a former Victorian office building that in the 1890s had housed Glasgow's first power station at 75 Waterloo Street into an upmarket boutique hotel with 96 bedrooms, a restaurant and bar.
It will operate under the Indigo brand, part of the global InterContinental Hotel Group.
However, the franchise will be run by Chardon Management, the Glasgow-based hotel management company that currently operates 15 other hotels across the UK under various brands, including the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express in Glasgow's Theatreland.
Ramsay Duff, a partner at HMCS and the lead broker on the deal, first identified the old property and said planning consent has already been given by Glasgow District Council.
"The idea of taking this slightly sad, old building and making it an upmarket, funky boutique hotel in the middle of the financial district was very appealing, " he said.
"There is something about this property that looks like it should be a hotel."
The hotel is expected to open for business in early 2011. The derelict Victorian block, which was originally owned by Glasgow Corporation Electricity Company and is listed for the building's historical significance, once sprouted a giant chimney as part of the power station operation, but most recently it served as a headquarters for Scottish telecoms group Thus, which was last year acquired by Cable & Wireless.
