Luxurious Central London hotel

Client name: Confidential
Project value: >£400 million
Location: Central London
What was the brief?
Our Banking and Finance team were instructed to act on the development financing of more than 70 bedrooms and apartments at a prestigious, ultra-luxury West End hotel. Our strong relationship with the client also saw us act on the hotel management agreement alongside several other property-related aspects.
Good things take time
Projects such as these always evolve over time. In fact, our experienced lawyers have been involved with this luxurious development for over eight years, during which they have regularly amended and tweaked the project’s financing requirements taking it from its development phase into stabilisation. Over such a time period, it’s been important for us to work closely with both the client and the debt funder to ensure that the financing moved forward as smoothly and seamlessly as possible for all parties.
Our dedicated team provided key advice on a number of tax complications, including the structuring and ownership of the site alongside its acquisition, funding and construction. We also provided detailed tax reports to the lenders covering all potential issues, as well as corporation tax on the profits and on any putative exit at a corporate level.
Reaching practical completion in early 2024, we are thrilled to have assisted our client in building the hotel and apartments, and during such a difficult time too. Working through spiralling construction costs, a generally challenging economic climate brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic and other geopolitical factors, it is brilliant to see this hotel through to a successful completion.
It has been tremendous to be part of our client’s journey to practical completion during some tricky economic times, in particular construction during the COVID pandemic.