Hopes have been raised work will resume to complete a multi-million-pound new hotel on Blackpool Promenade which has been stalled for a number of years.
It is now nine years since plans were first mooted for the Sands Resort Hotel on Central Promenade with the investment, reported to be around £30m, including a £10m loan from Blackpool Council’s business loans fund.
Work has been held up for almost three years due to legal wrangles. While the exterior of the building has been completed, the interior of the 91-bedroom hotel has yet to be fitted out.
Coun Paul Galley, who has repeatedly questioned the council about the security of its loan to developer Peter Swann through his company Coolsilk, raised the issue once more at a meeting of the full council on Wednesday, September 18.
He said: “We gave a loan to a company, the Sands venue, to do something with that building and yet it is still empty. Is the loan being repaid and do you have an answer for us as to when that building will be completed?”
Council leader Coun Lynn Williams said the loan was secured and the council was in touch with the developer’s lawyers, with hopes of the legal issues soon being resolved.
She told the meeting: “The issue, which I think we have spoken about before, is between the developer and his contractor and architect. We understand that is now coming to the end of that process and we will hear something shortly.”
The loan from the council was made in 2018 and is repayable over 25 years, secured against the completed development.
The hotel was initially expected to launch in 2021 and with facilities including a luxury spa and gym, conference rooms and valet parking. The site also includes the council’s Showtown Museum which opened in March this year after also being delayed from June 2021.
The ground floor also includes the £600,000 Spyglass Bar which opened in 2021 and the Wild West Diner which opened in 2017.
Outline planning permission was first granted for the Sands hotel redevelopment in 2015, followed by a revised planning application at the end of 2018 which reduced the height of the building.
The site was originally occupied by the Palatine Hotel before it was demolished to make way for development which included the old Palace Nightclub, which Mr Swann converted to the Sands cabaret venue before closing that and embarking on the current development.
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