Fresh plans to breathe new life into a historic yet run-down Birmingham city centre building have been revealed which could see a hotel and leisure complex open.
Irish developer Oakmount and sister leisure firm Creative Cedar are behind the project, having bought Methodist Central Hall in Corporation Street in a bid to create a mixed-use scheme led by a new hotel with up to 155 bedrooms.
They also want to add a three-storey roof extension to house a restaurant and bar called Sophie's, create new commercial and business units, restore the auditorium and build an event space and nightclub in the basement.
Shop fronts on the ground floor would also be renovated and there would be a gym open to the public, according to a new planning application lodged with Birmingham City Council.
Subject to consent, the new hotel would be called 'The Dean' and operated by Dublin-based Oakmount's sister company Press Up Hospitality which has more than 65 hotel and leisure sites, mainly across Ireland.
This would be the fourth The Dean hotel and first outside of Ireland and the overall development is expected to create around 410 full- and part-time jobs.
Methodist Central Hall, which was completed in 1904 and is grade II* listed, was once home to the famous Que Club and welcomed major artists such as David Bowie, Daft Punk and Blur between 1989 and 2017.
It now sits empty and unused, aside from a few of its ground-floor commercial units, and the building has fallen into a severe state of disrepair in recent years, causing heritage body Historic England to place it on its 'At Risk' register.
It has been the subject of several proposals to bring it back into use including £35 million plans by Ciel Capital which won consent in 2018 to create a mixed-use scheme, also led by a new hotel with apart-hotel rooms and a live music venue.
But this project stalled in summer 2019 when administrators were appointed to Ciel Central Hall Ltd, the special-purpose company set up to carry out the project, forcing Ciel Capital to look for a new owner.
A report submitted in support of these new plans by planning consultancy SLR said the redevelopment would "deliver the sympathetic restoration, improvement and full use" of the building.
"It will deliver the removal of the building from the 'at risk' register and will bring it back into full and proper use, enabling the building once again to be enjoyed by guests and visitors," it said.
"Various schemes have been advanced for the building over the past 15 years, however, none to date have been delivered.
"These proposals offer a unique opportunity to restore and repurpose the building where the applicant is the end user who will deliver a destination tourism and leisure offering which utilises all parts of the building ensuring its full restoration and protection.
"These proposals provide the opportunity to deliver a transformative impact for this area of the city that will open up the restored heritage asset to the public.
"Ultimately, if approved, the proposals will secure the long-term survival and protection of the building, supported by an anchor end user which will attract and deliver the full economic reuse of the heritage asset to safeguard its future.
"Given successive previous proposals have failed to deliver, it is essential that a deliverable proposal is now secured, permitted and implemented."
