CRISTIANO Ronaldo has halted plans to construct a luxury £27M hotel in Manchester after his planning permission expired.
The superstar won planning permission to build an exclusive CR7 151-room hotel in the heart of the city in December 2020 – but the Grade II-listed building has been left in ruins.
The hotel was due to be open this year – employing over 900 people and adding £56 million to the local economy.
Yet the historic property is still derelict, which it has been for the last two decades.
Council photos from the planning application show exposed ceilings and paint peeling off the walls.
The three-year planning permission expired earlier this month on December 16 – but no work has been attempted on the property.
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A spokesperson for the hotel group Pestana – Ronaldo’s CR7 hotels partner – admitted to The Sun that the project is on ice, saying: “The next steps of the project are on hold, as the Group is still working on permitting matters.”
Former Man United hero Ronaldo’s stock has fallen dramatically with fans after his fateful interview with Piers Morgan when he criticised the club and forced his way out to eventually get a move to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
There were also ongoing issues that the group of investors hadn’t got the required funding.
The project is a joint venture between Pestana and developers Eastern Green called Southern Green Properties.
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In September, it wrote a letter to the council to discharge a number of conditions on the site which would buy it some time.
In the letter to the council, sent by Deloitte on their behalf, it said: “Since planning permission and listed building consent were granted in 2020; however, a number of well documented and unforeseen macroeconomic challenges have resulted in some delays in bringing forward this project.
“Southern Green Properties Ltd continues to be fully committed to delivering the permitted scheme which will provide a high quality development and the restoration and long term sustainable reuse of a grade II-listed heritage asset.”
The property has been in a state of disrepair for years, but its fortunes seemed to have changed when Ronaldo’s team got the green light for a futuristic 11-storey hotel.
Nevertheless, the council has been frustrated that there’s never been any sign of work starting.
Ronaldo’s CR7 brand already has hotels in New York’s Time Square, his homeland Madeira, Lisbon, Portugal, and Madrid, Spain.
The Manchester site has been embroiled in controversy from the start – with the council stepping into ban billboards after it was covered with a huge advertisement.
The advertisement agency Blow Up Media UK were blocked from putting up anymore huge ads in in June 2022 after the council voiced concerns “about a lack of progress since planning permission was granted.”
The council officer said at the time that the ad was delaying construction, adding: “The City Council considers that the continued approvals for the advert could delay potential development due to the income generated from the advertisement, which would cause the site to remain vacant and undeveloped for longer… it would give a poor impression of the area to a large number of people and could detract from investment in the area as a result.”
The plans were for a four-star hotel with 151 rooms, roof terrace for guests and visitors, gymnasium, and two bars in the trendy Northern Quarter.
All of the ageing upper floors of one building were to be knocked down and the adjoining Grade II-listed building was to make make up the bulk of the lower floors including the ground floor bar, cafe and reception.
The Sun reached out to reps for Ronaldo for comment.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
