Property consultants have been appointed to find an operator for a prominent Birmingham hotel near the M6.
The leisure team at the Birmingham office of national property advisors GVA has been tasked with finding an operator for the hotel at Fort Dunlop in Erdington, after budget hotel chain Travelodge seeks to offload a number of sites.
Travelodge confirmed it was seeking new operators for its Birmingham Fort Dunlop, Birmingham Walsall and Birmingham Maypole hotels, as well as those in Redditch, Wolverhampton Central and Coventry.
Fort Dunlop, a mixed-use development which was formerly a tyre factory and main office of Dunlop Rubber, was acquired by owner and developer Urban Splash in 1999.
Following an extensive redevelopment, the building was converted to provide facilities for a range of uses, with 300,000 sq ft of Grade A office space and 45,000 sq ft of retail.
Combining historic status with new-build efficiency and design-led architecture, Fort Dunlop tenants, include the Birmingham Post & Mail.
Opened in 2006, the 100-bed hotel element occupies the striking, blue-clad 10-storey extension to the original building and is surrounded by landscaped areas to the front and rear.
Ben Brown, principal surveyor at GVA’s Hotels and Leisure team, said: “While Urban Splash is primarily looking to re-let the hotel to a new operator, they are also willing to consider management contract proposals.
“There are a considerable number of corporate occupiers in the immediate vicinity, as well as well-known and popular leisure attractions including Villa Park, Drayton Manor and The Belfry.”
Nathan Cornish, Urban Splash, said: “The hotel element at Fort Dunlop represents an eye-catching addition to what is a national landmark. “The availability of this space is an unrivalled opportunity for an ambitious hotelier to expose its brand to one of the busiest sections of motorway in the UK.
"We would be open to altering the striking blue render to link into the corporate colours of the operator taking the space”.
