Hotel plan for former Leeds City Council building

A 'distinguished' hotel and high end office spaces are to be created in Leeds after the council agreed to sell three of its buildings.

Leeds City Council has announced Idé Real Estate as the preferred purchaser for its complex of three grade II listed buildings which include the Leonardo building on Rossington Street and Thoresby House on Great George Street.

The former school building on Great George Street will be transformed into a hotel that will offer 140 rooms, with a further potential 200 rooms, in a new building on the current car park site.

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Redevelopment will likely commence in 2018 following the planning process.

Currently used by Leeds City Council as part of its city centre office complex, all staff will be located to the new Merrion House as part of the Council asset strategy to drive greater efficiency and service delivery for the city. Refurbishment and redevelopment will likely commence in Q4 2018 following the planning process.

The Leonardo and Thoresby buildings, a former printing works and teachers’ college, both constructed around 1900, are proposed to be refurbished to offer around 53,000 sq ft of modern, flexible serviced office space.

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Great George Street, a detached building constructed as a school in around 1890, will be transformed into a highly desirable hotel. It will offer 140 rooms within the existing footprint and rooftop extension, with a further potential 200 rooms in a new building on the current carpark site. It’s estimated that Leeds will require an additional 2,500 high-quality hotel beds, in order to service the uplift in visitor numbers expected as part of the 2023 Capital of Culture bid.