A hotel in Bristol could be replaced with two huge residential tower blocks, under new plans.
The Premier Inn site next to the St James Barton roundabout, known as The Bear Pit, has been sold by the chain's parent firm Whitbread for redevelopment. Whitbread said it had decided to offload the 20-storey building, originally built as the offices for Avon County Council in 1972, due to its age and maintenance costs.
Among developer Olympian Homes’ proposals for the site are a 28-storey student accommodation building providing 445 beds, which if approved would make it one of the tallest buildings in the city.
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The firm is also looking to build an 18-storey co-living residential scheme offering 136 bedrooms on the 0.3 hectare site, with around 20% of the homes to be classified as affordable housing. A new ground floor café, which could open onto both the central bus and coach station and the roundabout, is also part of the plans.
Whitbread, which operates four hotels in Bristol city centre, said while the Haymarket Premier Inn remains open, it would look to invest in new locations in the Harbourside and Temple Quarter areas.
Development manager Richard Pearson said: "The Premier Inn at Haymarket is at the end of its life. Though the location is great the current building does not provide the high brand standards our customers expect of us, and it needs substantial investment. We also have a much newer Premier Inn at Finzels Reach which is a short walk from the Haymarket hotel and serves the same catchment.
“Redeveloping the site presents an opportunity to realise the true potential of the gateway location for the city, whilst generating funds to reinvest in our network modern and energy efficient hotels in Bristol and elsewhere. The sale is part of our strategy of ensuring our hotel offer is of the highest quality and in the very best locations for our customers.”
Olympian Homes said draft designs for the proposed redevelopment would be revealed “in the coming weeks” as part of a public consultation. The firm added that the scheme was expected to offer “low or zero” car parking, and could help reveal the Grade I-listed St James’ Priory building, which it said was currently obscured by the hotel.
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