A new hotel is finally going up beside Walsall football club.
Birmingham property consultancy Burley Browne has completed the sale of a plot of land there in a project set to benefit both the club and the local community.
The one-acre site will be developed by property company GMI to provide a 100-plus bedroom hotel for Kennford Hotels, a franchise operator for the budget Ramada Encore chain, part of the US-based Cendant Group which owns, among others, Days Inn, Howard Johnson and Travelodge.
The scheme will create new jobs and help the football club market its conferencing and banqueting facilities better, said property consultant and partner Pete Browne.
He went on: "It is good that a hotel of the quality of Ramada has been attracted to the town, because of the spin-offs, both to the area generally and the football club,"
The site forms part of the current car park next door to the stadium in Bescot Crescent. Walsall FC are the site tenants.
Burley Browne acted for the pension fund that owns the freehold which was sold to GMI, who will undertake development on behalf of Kennford Hotels/ Ramada Encore.
The Cendant Group is one of the biggest in the world with Ramada Encore at the top end of the budget market. There are currently just a handful of Encore hotels in the UK, and none at all in the Midlands.
Ken Popat, of Kennford Hotels/Ramada Encore, said the development would be the flagship scheme for the brand in the UK.
Mr Browne said: "As well as creating new jobs, the scheme will significantly assist Walsall FC in marketing their huge conferencing and banqueting facilities. They are used regularly for such things as weddings but, at the moment, there is no overnight accommodation available nearby. The hotel will raise the profile of Walsall as a quality budget location."
