A Brighton hotel is to be turned into 22 flats after the business racked up ten years of financial losses.
Nine of the new flats will be classed as affordable homes when the Preston Park Hotel, in Preston Road, Brighton, is remodelled.
The main older building will be retained and converted while the newer extension on the northern part of site will be demolished and replaced. The new building will house the nine self-contained “affordable” flats.
A letter in support of the application said: “The existing hotel is trading at a significant loss (the annual loss being between £34,166 and £103,365 for the years since 2007) which has required capital injections of over £53,000 on an annual basis by the Preston Park Hotel Ltd’s directors in order to keep trading. Such a large level of loss is unsustainable.”
The company is owned by Rovertos and Ermylos Savvides, who also own the Regency fish restaurant on Brighton seafront. The pair have run the hotel for at least 15 years.
The original 19th century core of the site consists of two Victorian villas which were used as a nursing home for some years. In the 1960s the home was turned into a hotel which was later extended. The hotel is still operating.
The plans to turn the hotel into housing were approved by the Brighton and Hove City Council Planning Committee at Hove Town Hall this afternoon (Wednesday 12 October).
Councillor Julie Cattell, who chairs the Planning Committee, said: “I welcome this. It is sad to lose the hotel. It’s competing with a lot of other hotels including the Travelodge near by.”
A number of committee members praised the sympathetic design, below, and said that the site and its surroundings would be improved by the scheme.
The owner will have to pay a developer contribution of £106,000 towards local services. The total includes £55,000 for local open spaces, £28,600 for education, £11,400 for transport and £11,000 for employment and training.
