Details emerge on multimillion-pound hotel plans

Further light has been shed on plans to breathe life into a former hotel complex in Manchester city centre. Details first emerged earlier this month on the multimillion-pound 216-bed venue.SH Hotels & Resorts is looking to expand its Treehouse brand into Manchester, with the project being brought forward in partnership with Property Alliance Group.The plans concern the Renaissance site, which accommodates a vacant 15-storey, 203-bed hotel, a multi-storey car park and restaurant.A planning application submitted to the council notes that the development sits in “very poor condition”, both visually and physically, and represents a “significant blight” on this part of the city.Dating from 1972 the buildings are the last remnant of the wider concrete landscape that once connected Cross Street to Blackfriars.Proposed is a £25m investment in the first phase of redeveloping the whole area, that being fully modernising and ‘radically transforming’ the existing hotel into Treehouse Manchester.It is designed to be “an international standard destination hotel, completely changing the perception of the building and driving footfall and activity to the site”.All bedrooms on the 13th floor would be removed to make way for an open plan skyline restaurant. Function rooms will also be fully refurbished, while the ground floor eatery is to be “revitalised”.The entrance would also be developed to move it away from being “low key, unattractive and not fit for purpose”.If backed, the proposals would generate approximately 220 full-time jobs through the operation of the proposed hotel use following completion.The application is with Manchester City Council, with a decision due laer this year.Phase two of the Renaissance complex masterplan would see Premier House repurposed to create a modern commercial workplace, while phase three would involve a residential building bring brought forward.