Press Release
ALROV GROUP TO DEVELOP REGENT STREET’S CAFÉ ROYAL BUILDING AS FIVE STAR, LUXURY HOTEL
13 April 2008
The Crown Estate has today agreed terms for the sale of a 125 year lease of the Café Royal block, at the southern end of Regent Street, Central London, to Alrov Group.
The Café Royal redevelopment forms part of The Crown Estate’s Quadrant scheme and will see the block transformed into a 160-bedroom, five star, luxury hotel. 1,500 sq m (16,000 sq ft) of prime Regent Street retail space will also be established at ground and basement level. The scheme will involve the retention of Grade One listed rooms, including the famous Grill Room, a favourite haunt of Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, James McNeill Whistler and other famous artists.
The Quadrant is a 93,000 sq m (one million sq ft) built area, mixed-use redevelopment of the Café Royal, Regent Palace Hotel and Quadrant Arcade blocks and is the most ambitious redevelopment ever undertaken on Regent Street. It will open up the southern end of Regent Street and create a 4,100 sq m (44,000 sq ft) public realm area, including the establishment of a significant traffic-free area on Glasshouse Street. After Trafalgar Square, the Quadrant will represent the most significant improvement to the quality of London’s public realm seen in the West End over the last 30 years.
The Quadrant proposals will provide a much needed revitalisation of the southern Regent Street environment. At the heart of this is the redevelopment of the Café Royal into a five star luxury hotel. The Alrov Group, an experienced international hotel developer and operator is ideally placed to help realise the ambitious redevelopment goals for the Café Royal. A market leader in Israeli property development and hotel markets, Alrov has a proven track record of delivering high quality hotels and a significant record in property investment throughout Europe. This move forms a central part of Alrov’s international expansion strategy, focused on landmark buildings in western / central Europe and New York City.
David Shaw Head of Regent Street Strategy and Development, The Crown Estate said: “The Quadrant development’s potential for regenerating the southern end of Regent Street has been reinforced today by Alrov’s commitment to develop the Café Royal in line with our proposals. We are delighted to be working with Alrov on this historic building.”
Georgi Akirov, Managing Director of Alrov’s Luxury Hotel Business said: “This is an exceptionally exciting opportunity to develop a world-leading hotel in one of the world's leading tourism destinations and we are delighted to work with The Crown Estate. We are committed to developing buildings in a way that enriches the heritage of each site and to delivering beautifully designed, well managed luxury establishments. Alrov remain focused on building an international presence as we continue our search for top quality buildings in prime locations.”
As part of The Crown Estate’s commitment to environmental sustainability, a central energy centre will also be developed within the scheme using tri-generation. The first of its kind in central London, this will be fuelled in part by hydrogen, rather than diesel and will primarily service the Regent Palace Hotel and Café Royal blocks.
CBRE Hotels, CBRE’s planning team and SJ Berwin acted for The Crown Estate and Clay Street Property Investment Consultants acted on behalf of Alrov.
Further Information
Regent Street Redevelopment
Tenants
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