Malmaison to open first hotel since refinancing

The 91 bedroom Dundee Malmaison will be created on the site of the vacant Tay Hotel in Dundee. Redevelopment is now ready to begin on the listed building after an agreement to lease has been concluded with the new hotel expected to open in May 2013.

The hotel, expected to open in May 2013, will be the 13th for MWB under the Malmaison brand.

Business expansion​

The hotel will form a major part of the Dundee Central Waterfront Development and new Malmaison and Hotel du Vin chief executive Gary Davis​ said it is just the first of new openings he hopes to oversee.

"This is a fantastic project. The regeneration on the Dundee waterfront is already underway and we are delighted to have secured the lease on this property that will enable us to create a prestigious hotel on the site. My objective is to oversee an expansion of the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin business and expect that this new hotel will be the first of many for these fantastic brands," he said.

Refinancing​

Malmaison aims to create 120 new jobs as part of the project which has been welcomed by Scottish development agencies and the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.

The operator will not own the hotel outright but will take on a 35 year lease with rent reviews every five years and an option to extend. In October 2011 MWB, the majority owner of Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, announced they had reduced their debt to £180m​ as a result of refinancing by selling and leasing back a number of hotels.

In November 2011 the operator announced they had suffered a tough second half of the year with ec​onomic uncertainty a blamed for a drop in revenue in food and beverage​.