George Best Hotel investors await High Court’s ruling on future development
Investors in the George Best Hotel could learn on Friday if they will be involved in any new plans to complete the project in Belfast city centre.
In July last year LCN reported on how a group of Northern Ireland businessmen were heading a plan to finish work on the ill-fated project at the Scottish Mutual Building at Donegall Square.
Signature Living Hotels had announced in June 2017 that it planned to open a 59-bed luxury venue but work stopped in April 2020 when the owners, Bedford Hotel Ltd, a subsidiary of Signature Living, went bust owing investors millions.
Many of those same investors last year joined with a new company with links to Signature Living in the hope the project could be completed.
Administrators Kroll have now applied to the High Court for advice on the position of both the bedroom investors, who put in £4.7m, and Lyell Trading, which is owed £7.2m, with a hearing due to take place on Friday.
Signature Living’s owner Lawrence Kenwright told that a group of investors, now totaling 51, had accepted an invitation to work with him in a bid to save the development and their money.
The George Best Hotel property company is chaired by Co Antrim businessman Stephen Kearney, who is overseeing refinancing and development, while Mr Kenwright acts as CEO.
Mr Kearney, who invested in the hotel in 2018, previously said: “There is hope now that all can be resolved with the George Best Hotel administration.
“It’s certainly not a time to give up. We have seen how Lawrence Kenwright has been reorganising his company since last April, and how well his hotels have been performing when allowed to trade during the pandemic and since the last English lockdown was lifted.
“We have also been struck by Lawrence’s sincerity, his openness and commitment to us. In this type of situation, I’ve only ever seen people run away. Not Lawrence. He has stood his ground and reached out to the investors. He wants to do the right thing by us. One can’t fail to be impressed by his courage and integrity. We all agree that we are better together as a group to stave off a potential write off.”
The GB Hotel investor group is also being advised by fellow Northern Irish businessman Thomas Scullion, himself a Signature Living investor, who chairs UK Accommodation Group (UKAG), which he and fellow investors set up to restructure Signature Living’s operations in September last year.
‘Unique circumstances’
Lawrence Kenwright said: “We have faced a unique set of circumstances in trying to finish the George Best hotel and I am extremely grateful for this support.
“The uncertainty of Brexit in 2019 was unsettling for developers and then the pandemic struck, forcing the closure of our venues for the majority of the last 15 months making it extremely difficult to attract new funding and the GB hotel investors understand that.
“I am steadfast in my determination to recover the Signature Living business and to ensure that all my room owners’ and unsecured investors’ interests are to the fore, rather than being left at the back of the queue as invariably they are in these situations.”
