Developers reach for sky as plan unveiled for four-star city hotel

Fulstow Holdings Ltd is behind the plans for a 200-room hotel, which would be operated by Radisson Blu, which includes a 22-storey tower with a top floor “sky bar” and an “iconic crown lighting feature”.

The tower – which would be a prominent landmark for anyone coming into the city on Castle Street – will have a three-storey conference centre next to it, capable of taking 1,000 people, with outlets including a gym, spa, restaurants and bars on the northern part of the site.

The development, at 62-71 High Street, is in the heart of Hull’s Old Town and just a short walk from the popular Deep aquarium and the city’s waterfront.

If approved, developers say it would create more than 500 temporary jobs during construction and 200 permanent jobs at the hotel and conference centre, and 100 others in the supply chain.

Constructing the hotel has been estimated to be worth £71m to the local economy while tourism, conferences and room rentals could reap in the region of £10m a year.

Property entrepreneur Tim Fulstow who was born on Longhill estate in Hull, but is now based in London, said Radisson Blu “was chomping at the bit” to get the hotel open.

He said: “I am putting my heart and soul into this and I really want it to work. It has taken me a long time to do it.

“We are now procuring the best contractor possible. I think we have got positive reactions from members of the pre-application meeting. We have got most of them on our side and we want to make sure we have got everybody on our side in Hull.

“We will have a sky bar which I hope people will want to go to and they will be able to look out over Lincolnshire and the Wolds. I am hoping that it is something that will be a pleasure to go to.”

He added: “I have spent millions of pounds of my company’s money trying to get this through. I owe local people a lot. There are people who have invested in me locally. I need to make sure they are happy. I want people to say when they walk from Princes Quay this is it.

“What we need is a larger hotel with all the gubbins. We are going to have a gym and spa like the Village at Hessle which is packed. We need something like that in central Hull.

“People will come and stay the weekend, go to the rugby and instead of going home stay the night, go and see the museums.”

The site, once occupied by the John Good & Sons Ltd office buildings, gained planning permission for a £30m “mixed use” development called Trinity Quays, including 159 apartments, in 2008.

Plans for a 20-storey apartment block and 141-bedroomed hotel were approved in 2009, but the proposals also fell through. The new tower would be 18m (60ft) higher.

Other schemes, including the £100m Boom development on the other side of the river, also failed to materialise.

However, project manager Mark Willett said the scheme had financial backing: “It is fundable. Banks will loan the money again; there’s a hotel operator who has pledged their support, so therefore that makes it fundable.

“There isn’t a conference centre in the city of Hull that can accommodate 1,000 delegates. It will be a destination hotel which can support things like the council’s bid for City of Culture.”

Coun John Fareham said: “Part of me will believe it when it happens. When I was chairman of the planning committee it was called Trinity Quays and that didn’t come about.

“There’s a long list of planning permissions that we have given that haven’t materialised and just prop up the bottom line on somebody’s trading account. But I hope this will prove me wrong and I will be delighted to be proved wrong.

“Hull certainly needs more top- end attractions and to have someone of the calibre of Radisson is to be welcomed.”

Malcolm Scott, a chartered surveyor and senior partner of Hull’s biggest commercial property practice, said it was encouraging to see developers coming with new planning applications.

He said: “I think a recession can only last so long and planning applications last a few year. It’s encouraging that the developers are coming forward with ambitious schemes.”

Radisson Hotels is a major international hotel company with more than 420 locations in 73 countries. Radisson hotels outside the United States trade as Radisson Blu.