Radisson Edwardian Goes Outside Of London

NEW YORK— Radisson Edwardian Hotels will open its first non-London-based hotel June 7 in Manchester, bringing to 12 the number of properties in its portfolio. The estimated $93 million property is the latest effort for the brand, which was formed by a non-equity partnership between Minnesota-based Carlson Companies and the U.K.’s Edwardian Hotels in 1992. Coming online via management contract, the Radisson Edwardian Manchester in northwest England is an adaptive reuse of the city’s landmark Free Trade Hall. The Hall has occupied the site in various iterations since 1840, witnessing the likes of Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Pink Floyd before it closed in 1996 with the Dalai Lama overseeing its final event, a meditation and prayer meeting. The building was also the home to the Hallé Orchestra, saw various political meetings and was rebuilt several times, including after the Blitz on Manchester during WWII. The Italianate façade of the building has been retained and coupled to a 16-story tower with a glass atrium. The 263-room hotel, which includes four penthouse suites, is directly opposite the GMEX Exhibition Centre and the Manchester International Convention Centre and Bridgewater Hall. There are an additional 20 suites, 18 meeting rooms, a spa and two restaurants— Opus One with its own streetside entrance and the Alto Terrance and bar. The Hallé Conference Room can seat 400 dinner style and 900 persons can be accommodated in the 1,500 square feet of combined meeting space. In fourth-quarter 2003, the project cost was tagged at $68 million, but in U.S. dollars has now jumped at presstime some $25 million due to the fluctuating exchange rate, which remains volatile. Nonetheless, owner/developer Stephen Barker told HOTEL BUSINESS®: “We’re on budget, we’re on time.” The Radisson Edwardian is entrepreneur Barker’s foray into hotels and he sees the Manchester market as a robust one for the brand’s first venture outside London. “There’s plenty of things happening in Manchester. We’ve developed a very sophisticated, cultural life, sports is very strong— we hosted the Commonwealth Games [in 2002], a major international event— we’ve had a strong, financial sector within the city for a long time,” said Barker. He acknowledged the city “sometimes gets overlooked” when people are considering the U.K. for business or leisure. “Manchester has to maintain the infrastructure to attract people to the city,” Barker asserted. “Part of that is having an hotel that meets their expectations. We’re going to deliver a five-star hotel right in the heart of the city.” He noted in doing the adaptive reuse of the historic Hall, the city wanted the building to continue to be a “contributing” facility for the community, much as it had when it was a theater and concert hall. “The city did not want to see another office block or residential or other uses that had been suggested— and the city needed to improve its hotel accommodations,” said Barker. He added the project is getting a lot of local support in terms of its use; however, there is no public subsidy in the project. “We have had a lot of cooperation from the municipal authorities to get through the process of permits and approvals…but it’s financed entirely through the private sector,” said Barker. He reiterated the project is on budget and schedule “which for a project of this size says a lot for the team we’ve put together, their abilities and how they’ve brought those together in a very cooperative manner, particularly the contribution from Radisson Edwardian as an operator.” A key team member is Stephen Miles, general manager for the property and a 29-year veteran of the industry. Miles joined Edwardian Hotels prior to its partnership with Radisson, and was GM for four of its London properties. Looking at target markets, Miles said leisure would be more of a “hard sell” than business. “[Manchester] is a major conventio