Central London Morley House hits the market

The freehold of Morley House, a hotel development site with GDV for in excess of £250m, has hit the market for an undisclosed amount. 

Located on the Holborn Viaduct with Goldman Sachs’ London head office and Amazon Web Services in adjacent occupation, the site has planning in place and allows for 150,000 sq ft. 

The scheme proposes the demolition of the existing building and development of a hotel with 11 floors over ground on the site of 26-30 Holborn Viaduct. This would include a rooftop to be used as a bar, for events and rooms. 

The site sits in the middle of a prime office destination and a growing leisure destination. 

Rob Stapleton, head of hotel capital markets at Savills, said: “During some of the recent successful hotel development-led sales Savills advised on in London last year, we identified Morley House as one of the few prime – ready to go – hotel projects in London. 

“We believe there is substantial investor demand for such high quality products also in light of the lack of supply in key markets in London and the exceptional EDR growth in 2023 and projected for the next few years.”

Richard Candey, partner at Cushman and Wakefield, added: “We’re delighted to have been appointed on this high-profile, prime development site sale, in central London. Opportunities for buyers to shape a ground-up hotel development to their specific brand-requirements are few and far between. 

“Operationally, London hotels have continued to outperform and we’ve seen this translate into positive investor engagement and pricing levels.”