IT'S hotel proposal season.
This is the first time for generations that a hotel has occupied such a prime site in this area.
First we had a new hotel announced from local brewers Hydes in the Norther Quarter and then one from another local operator, Eclectic Hotels, on Booth Street.
Now the Germans are coming again. Motel One a 'budget hotel' chain based in Munich has already agreed to occupy a site on Whitworth Street after the controversial clearance of important historical buildings in Manchester's cultural story. Now it's coming to Cross Street.
The new hotel will hang behind the preserved facade of an 1868 office by local architects Walters, Barker and Ellis, opposite the stage door of the Royal Exchange and just over Newmarket from Boots in Manchester Arndale.
The new building behind the facade will be the work of Stephenson:ISA Studio, another local architectural practice, which gives some nice continuity over 150 years.
There will be 290-beds in the new place. Outside the forty odd hotels in Germany there is an existing hotel in Edinburgh and more planned in the UK, not just in Manchester but also in Glasgow and London.
Looking for an accurate description of a typical Motel One, Confidential checked Wikipedia and found only a German entry which we Google-translated.
So: 'The interior of the hotel is modern in design and used throughout the corporate identity colors brown and turquoise. Motel One offers the guest an average of 16 sq m room, waived cabinet, telephone, mini bar and room service, but instead to emphasize a per hotel offers individually designed lounge.'
Good. Google translations alway deliver in so many satisfying ways. And we all love waived cabinets.
What is most interesting about this hotel - if planning permission is granted - is the location.
This is the first time for generations that a hotel has occupied such a prime site in this area.
It underlines how Manchester city centre is becoming more and more a tourist and leisure destination. Traditionally the value per square foot on this site would have dictated an office block. That is no longer the case and thus a clever budget hotel can carve a niche.
