Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment won approval to convert the US Embassy on London’s Grosvenor Square into a luxury hotel.
The project in the Mayfair district, which will include stores and restaurants, was approved late Tuesday by the borough council, according to Westminster Property Association. Bollards and security kiosks surrounding the property will be removed as part of the plan.
Qatari Diar’s London projects include luxury homes at the former Chelsea Barracks, the majority of the Canary Wharf financial district in east London and a stake in a multifamily apartment complex near the former Olympic Stadium in East London. Despite the fall in the pound following the Brexit vote, revenue per available room, a measure of profitability, at London hotels fell 11.4 percent in October from a year earlier, according to data compiled by researcher STR.
The U.S. State Department agreed to sell the existing embassy building in 2009 to fund a relocation to the Nine Elms district. The opening of the new embassy has been delayed and the building is now scheduled to be completed around spring 2017, a person with knowledge of the matter said last month.
News by Bloomberg, edited by Hospitality Ireland
