Agents at property firm Savills take over sale of Bliss Hotel in Southport from CBRE after companies that own the site collapsed into administration. Tony McDonough reports
Agents at Savills have been tasked with funding a buyer for the Bliss Hotel and adjacent development land in Southport.
In September owners of the 131-room luxury hotel had instructed CBRE to find a buyer for it and an adjacent 50,000 sq ft development site. Bliss has recently undergone a £20m transformation.
However on Tuesday it was revealed two companies behind the hotel – Waterfront Southport Properties and Waterfront Hotels (Southport) – had collapsed into administration.
And on Wednesday Savills announced it had been appointed by the administrators – Paul Davies and Sandra Mundy of James Cowper Kreston – to find a buyer for the site which totals two acres.
Bliss includes penthouses, a lounge bar, restaurant, roof garden, gym, conferencing and events spaces and secure underground car parking for 120 cars. Next door to the hotel is a 50,000 sq ft development site.
The whole complex is located adjacent to the proposed £75m Marine Lake Events Centre. This would see a 1,200-seater events space built to replace the Southport Theatre and Convention Centre which closed in 2020.
Directly to the south of the hotel is Marine Parade, Southport Pier and a range of leisure attractions. The wider waterfront is anchored by numerous restaurants, bars, amusements and leisure facilities.
Savills is inviting offers for the hotel, held on a long leasehold with 235 years unexpired. The day-to-day operations remain unaffected as the administrators are continuing to trade the business as a going concern.
Tom Cunningham, director in the hotel capital markets team at Savills Manchester, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to acquire the long leasehold interest in this luxury hotel in a popular town centre location with waterfront views.
“The hotel has benefited from a multimillion-pound refurbishment and comes with outstanding asset management and development potential, subject to planning.
“It is also ideally situated to benefit from the substantial regeneration along the Marine Lake, which is expected to attract over half a million visitors to Southport each year.”