GWQ Serviced Apartments Change Hands

First Urban Villa extended-stay hotel concept to open this November

Union Hanover Securities will have its first extended-stay Urban Villa hotel trading in November after it acquired 100 serviced apartments from Barratt London at its Great West Quarter (GWQ) scheme in Brentford.

Last month the hotel developer and operator, Union Hanover unveiled a new team and a substantial equity injection, with which it announced it will grow its £350m portfolio to £1bn within five years. 

The 100 serviced apartments acquired on a 999-year lease, are in the landmark 25-storey tower on the 12.5 acres mixed-use scheme which also has 800 homes retail, restaurants, offices and a Novotel Hotel, on Great West Road, Brentford. Further details of the deal were not disclosed.

Hospitality director and Urban Villa co-founder Andrew Fowler said: “GWQ is in an excellent location on the West End - Heathrow corridor, also known as the Golden Mile, which is adjacent to a number of major corporate headquarters such as Glaxo, Sky, JC Decaux, Worley Parsons, EMC and Sega. The area is currently under supplied in quality accommodation,  particularly in terms of extended stay and corporate housing. And supply doesn’t appear to be going to increase any time in the near future.”

Managing director of Union Hanover and Urban Villa co-founder Eric Jafari added: “The Tower at GWQ was an obvious acquisition for us. It fits well with our growth strategy for the Urban Villa brand in London. GWQ will be the first of six UK Urban Villa All-Suite Hotels that we will deliver in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London and Portsmouth over the next two years. October of this year also sees the launch of our first London HOAX Hotel/Hostel at Waterloo, so this will be a busy but exciting time for us.”

April 22, 2014