Whitbread, the parent company of the Premier Inn hotel chain, has acquired “a strategically located development site” in Leeds city centre.

Whitbread has acquired the freehold of a 42,000 sq ft office building (GIA) in the South Bank area of Leeds which it intends to redevelop into a Premier Inn hotel with 120 bedrooms, subject to planning permission.

The acquisition of Verity House grows Whitbread’s secured development pipeline in Leeds city centre to two locations and more than 250 pipeline bedrooms.

Jill Anderson, Acquisitions Manager for Whitbread, said: “Whitbread has a long and successful track record of converting office buildings into popular budget hotels.

“It is a proven route to expanding our presence in popular locations like Leeds City Centre where development opportunities are limited and where we have a requirement to grow.

“Converting offices into hotels also provides obvious benefits to the environment by extending the life of existing buildings and reducing the embodied carbon of development.

“Verity House makes for a superb hotel location given its proximity to the station and all the amenities in Leeds City Centre.  It complements our existing network of eight Premier Inn’s across the city and as a freehold purchase it demonstrates Whitbread’s willingness to take on planning and development risk to secure exceptional locations for our guests.

“The location has huge potential and I’m looking forward to working with the City Council’s planning team on repurposing the building.”

In acquiring Verity House, Whitbread was advised by WSB property consultants.  The vendor was advised by Commercial Property Partners.