Cristiano Ronaldo to Open Luxury Hotel Central Manchester
Main Photo: The proposed new Pestana Hotel, Manchester, (Image: Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Manchester City Council)
Date: August 2020
Location: Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, England, UK
Name: Pestana CR7 Manchester – opening 2023
No. Keys: 151
Seller: The site is currently a Grade II listed Halls Building at 69-75 Piccadilly, home to The Piccadilly Tavern pub, with an empty building next door at number 67
Owner: Cristiano Ronaldo is opening a luxury hotel overlooking Piccadilly Gardens. The former Manchester United player, 35, has teamed up with Portuguese hotelier Pestana to launch the proposed ‘high end lifestyle hotel’ on the corner of Piccadilly and Newton Street.
Pestana CR7 Manchester is due to open in 2023, subject to planning permission, and will be part of the chain’s CR7 branded hotels – named after the Portuguese international’s initials and shirt number.
“It couldn’t be more appropriate – after all, this is the city where Cristiano Ronaldo started his international career in Man United back in 2003 and where he first used number 7,” the hotel group announced on its website.
Plans have been submitted to Manchester Council for the development, which is to be delivered in partnership with property company Eastern Green Limited.
The £27m project would see the grade II listed Halls Building at 69-75 Piccadilly – home to The Piccadilly Tavern pub – redeveloped, while the empty building next door at number 67 will be demolished and replaced with a new 11-storey tower.
Together they would house a four-star hotel with 151 bedrooms, a ground floor bar and cafe, basement gym and roof terrace, according to plans lodged with the council.
The Piccadilly Tavern unit will also be refurbished as part of the plans, but will remain a pub. Parent company Mitchell & Butler told the local paper, there are currently no plans to close it under the proposals, adding: “We still have a number of years remaining on our lease.”
New retail and leisure units would also be created at street level as part of the plans, along with an outdoor seating area on Newton Street, where pavements would be widened and trees planted to improve the public realm.
The applicants say the proposed development ‘presents a unique opportunity to deliver the wholesale refurbishment of an important heritage asset’.
“It will be made commercially viable through the introduction of a sensitively designed new hotel building; delivering a new 4* luxury boutique hotel across the site,” the application states.
“The redevelopment of the site represents an important step towards delivering the full regeneration potential and agglomeration impacts of the Northern Quarter and will make a positive contribution towards the growing demand of the city’s hotel sector.”
Pestana CR7 is a 50-50 investment partnership between Juventus striker Ronaldo and the hotel group. The brand already has sites in Ronaldo’s hometown of Funchal in Madeira and in Lisbon, with more openings on the way in New York, Madrid, Marrakech and Paris.
Pestana’s wider portfolio of hotels includes sites in Berlin, Barcelona and Caracas, as well as the four-star Chelsea Bridge Hotel and Spa in London.
“Pestana are now keen to expand their brand into the regions and Manchester’s economic and regeneration context and visitor attraction presents a fantastic opportunity to establish their brand and second hotel in the UK,” the planning application continues.
THPT Comment: Pestana’s JV with Ronaldo has proved to be fruitful, with this being their 7th hotel under the CR7 brand.
First Seen: Manchester Evening News
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