A £90 MILLION scheme to transform a "forgotten" Glasgow waterfront area to create a 300-bedroom hotel, with bars, restaurants and conference facilities has been unveiled.
Artisan Real Estate Investors, the investment partnership driving Edinburgh’s successful New Waverley project, have submitted an outline proposal for a new hotel and leisure quarter for the city's Custom House site on Clyde Street.
The firm bought the grade A-listed building and adjoining land last summer for more than £1.75 million last year and aims to bring Scotland’s first Clayton Hotel to the historic sandstone Grade A-Listed Custom House.
It has been empty and derelict for the several years and has gradually fallen into disrepair and is on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland which highlights properties of architectural or historic merit throughout the country that are considered to be at risk or under threat.
Artisan agreed a leasing deal with the Dalata Hotel Group in November for a four-star development which also includes a 150-room aparthotel with street-level bars and restaurants planned for adjacent tenement buildings,straddling the corner of Clyde Street and Dixon Street.
Detailed plans are expected to be submitted in the spring, with project targeted for completion in mid-2020, subject to planning permission.
Artisan’s project director Clive Wilding said: “This is a hugely significant opportunity to, once again, bring Glasgow’s burgeoning waterfront area back into the vibrant heart of its city centre.
“For too long, the imposing Custom House with its distinctive Greek revival frontage and its neighbouring tenements had become the forgotten segment of the city’s waterfront, having lain mostly vacant for the best part of a decade. We are now in a position to bring these wonderfully characterful buildings back to life, introducing established boutique hotel and aparthotel brands, which will fill the area with energy and life throughout the day and evening.
“We will now work with our partners to create a flagship regeneration project for the city, providing a seamless link from the Clyde waterfront to the St Enoch Centre transport hub and Buchanan Street - part of Glasgow’s ‘style mile’ and generally regarded as the best shopping street outside of London.”
He added: “We are looking forward to expanding our footprint in Glasgow, and securing another high-quality regeneration opportunity in such an excellent city centre location fits our model perfectly.”
Designed by Irish-born customs official and engineer John Taylor Glasgow's Custom House opened in 1840 and provided a direct link from the Clyde quayside to the city centre.
It was traditionally where traders paid their taxes for bringing goods along the river to the city on barges, steamers and freight ship.
It underwent internal modifications in 1873, carried out by renowned Glasgow architect Alexander "Greek" Thomson.
The Custom House was last occupied by the procurator fiscal's office, which vacated the building in 2007.
The neighbouring former tenement buildings were home to a department store in the 1960s as well as other small businesses.
The wider area, including Custom House Quay, Custom House Gardens and Carrick Quay form part of a long-standing council-backed scheme to transform the waterfront with mixed use development including hotels, retailers, luxury flats and a promenade including restaurants and bars, aiming to create an extension to the retailing and commercial activities within the city along the riverside.
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