The owners of a key city site have completed the sale of a plot for a new 210-bedroom hotel.

Arena Central Developments has sold the site to Centre Island Birmingham which has planning permission to build a new 14-storey hotel.

The Arena Central site sits between Alpha Tower and the former Birmingham Register Office opposite Centenary Square and the new hotel will be developed at the back of the site and adjacent to the Crowne Plaza hotel which is also owned by Centre Island Birmingham.

The whole 7.6 acre Arena Central site - which is owned a joint venture between Miller Developments and Bridgehouse Capital - was originally set to be home of the V Tower, the city’s tallest building, but the plans were scuppered by the downturn in the commercial and residential property markets.

However, Jonathan Wallis, development director at Miller Developments believes that the new hotel will kick-start further developments across the rest of the site.

He said: “The sale of this site to Centre Island for a Holiday Inn Express, made possible with the help of Birmingham City Council, will greatly boost the hotel offering in the city. Arena Central is Birmingham’s most strategically located regeneration scheme and we are confident that this will act as a catalyst for further development on

the site.”

Planning permission was granted to Centre Island Birmingham in the summer for a contemporary 14 storey, 210-bedroom Holiday Inn Express hotel accessed from Holliday Street. The proposals also include a separate 10,000 sq ft health club with swimming pool and spa and an atrium link to the Crowne Plaza.

The hotel, once complete, will back onto the planned Arena Square, forming a key part of an office led mixed use scheme.

Mark Foster, managing director of Centre Island, added: “The new hotel will be an outstanding building in a fantastic location at the heart of Birmingham’s key city centre arterial routes. Now we have purchased the site and gained planning permission, we will start work as soon as possible to deliver a contemporary property entirely fitting to its city centre location. We are very excited to be such an integral part of the larger Arena Central proposals and will continue to work with ACDL and Birmingham City Council to help bring the long-awaited regeneration of this area to the city”

Work on site is due to start mid-2013 and the hotel aims to be open by January 2015. The development will include the demolition of the old Multi Storey Car Park at the junction of Holliday Street and Bridge Street and the completion of the demolition of the old retail units fronting Alpha Plaza.

Outline planning consent for Arena Central is already in place for up to 2.3 million sq ft of mixed-use development including up to 800,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation, hotels, residential munits of over 200,000 sq ft alongside up to 1.2 million sq ft of retail/leisure units set within well maintained public realm.