The new owners of the Haymarket car park site have announced the name of the hotel which will be built there. Vastinct Hospitality has bought part of the site from Hiscox and will build a 120 bedroomed economy “Moxy” hotel there.
Hiscox new York HQ. Ready for occupation before the end of the year
No financial details of the deal have been revealed but it is bound to reignite the indignation felt by many taxpayers in 2012 when the Council sold off the site on the cheap. Then, in the depth of the recession, the Labour Council accepted an offer of a little over £2 million for the site – far below the current £5 million valuation.
Critically the Council failed to include a condition in the sale agreement which would have seen Council taxpayers benefit from any subsequent increase in the sites value. As well as the Haymarket car park (which produced an income of £300,000 a year for the Council) the site included the Peasholme hostel and adjacent ambulance station.
York police station empty and boarded up
Now existing hotels in the City face competition from a new arrival which may have benefited from slack Council accounting 3 years ago.
The new Council and its auditors should review the 2012 deal and ensure that no further errors are made.
There is a lesson for the public sector more generally here.
Some vacant sites are an eyesore. The old Fire station on Clifford Street and the adjacent police station need to be brought back into use quickly.
There is a boom in the residential market at present and City Centre sites are fetching high prices. While the adjacent magistrates court building is listed, this should not prevent the reuse of the rest of the site.
It is the optimum time to market empty City centre properties.
In respect of these two properties the public authorities concerned should get a move on.