Hotel Amano, Manex Properties Limited
Name: Hotel Amano
Client name: Manex Properties Limited
Project value: c.£64 million
Location: Covent Garden, London
What was the brief?
Providing a full service offering, our Commercial Real Estate, Construction, Real Estate Disputes and Banking and Finance teams were instructed to act for Manex Properties Limited (Manex) on Drury House in London.
Situated on the corner of Drury Lane and Russell Street, the hotel now comprises 141 rooms across six floors. The site also benefits from the Amano lounge bar in the basement, Penelope’s restaurant on the ground floor and the Amano Sky Bar on the seventh floor which offers panoramic views of Central London.
From acquisition to completion
We acted on the purchase of Drury House in Covent Garden, an office building with a restaurant and café at ground floor level, with a view to obtaining vacant possession and redeveloping as a hotel. We also acted on the construction documents for the redevelopment, the financing of the acquisition and the subsequent development facility.
Our team advised on the strategic rights of light complications, a complex vacant possession strategy, negotiated with the ground floor tenant and advised on neighbourly matters where a dispute arose in relation to the redevelopment.
Additionally, we negotiated and concluded the building contract and all professional team appointments, sub-contractor warranties and surety documentation. We also worked with the funder’s lawyers in relation to the approval of all construction documentation and the satisfaction of construction conditions precents, including the delivery to the funder of collateral warranties.
Our banking and finance team negotiated and closed the initial acquisition facility and then acted on the £49 million refinance and development facility which funded the conversion of the office property into hotel use.
Operating throughout development
A significant challenge identified in the early stages of the project concerned how the restaurant and café, operated by the same tenant, were to stay open throughout the development works. We efficiently negotiated a deal with the tenant whereby they were paid compensation, attributed to the extent to which their operations were impacted during the redevelopment.
The arrival of the pandemic saw the tenant later go into administration which allowed our client to open a new restaurant that has further enhanced the overall development.
Manex opened the new Hotel Amano Covent Garden in 2022, marking a successful launch of the Amano brand into the UK market. Our Banking and Commercial Real Estate teams continue to support Manex having competed a further circa £50 million refinancing in September 2024.
The success of this transaction and development during the pandemic was a testament to the client and its vision for the future. The team have thoroughly enjoyed working closely with the client throughout its development, and were delighted to see its successful launch in 2022.