George Best Hotel investors to lose up to £4m
People who bought bedrooms off plan in the stalled George Best Hotel in Belfast are set to lose up to £4m after a judge ruled the property can be sold to administrators appointed to the failed project.
In the High Court, Madam Justice McBride granted an order for sale of the building while noting the the serious financial impact on many of those individuals who put their lifetime savings into the boutique hotel scheme.
“The court obviously had immense sympathy for the bedroom investors who stand to lose their entire investment without any return,” the judge said.
In April 2020 the company behind the hotel being built at Donegall Square went into administration having received around £4m from investors to fund the development.
More than 20 bedroom investors filed evidence in the case, with adjournments sought to investigate the potential for a third party investor to complete the development of the hotel and then either sell the hotel or operate it as a going concern.
In granting the administrators’ application for permission to sell, Madam Justice McBride said: “The court has, it considers, given ample opportunity for attempts to be made to secure the best return for the creditors as a whole.
“And despite adjourning the matter on three occasions no viable proposal had been made by a third party investor.”
Administrators Krollwill now to recoup what they can for Lyell Trading, which is owed £7.2m, and the bedroom investors who put in £4.7m.
The ruling brings to and end the hopes of a group of investors who had agreed to work with Signature Living and its owner Lawrence Kenwright in a bid to save the development and their money.
