AS one door opens ... another gets planning permission.
Mayor of Sunderland Coun Iain Kay will open Travelodge’s second hotel in Sunderland city centre today.
The £6million 82-bedroom development has created 18 jobs.
Manager Bill Johnson said: “By attracting new visitors to Sunderland High Street West Travelodge, we will boost the local economy by £1.2million, as our research shows the average Travelodge customer will spend £36 a day in local shops, restaurants and bars during their stay.”
Coun Kay said: “The opening of a second Travelodge in the city centre is great news for people visiting Sunderland for work or pleasure, and for the city’s ability to stage large-scale events like the stadium concerts and the Sunderland International Airshow.”
City council leader Coun Paul Watson added: “This £6million investment is further evidence of growing confidence on the part of the private sector in investing in Sunderland city centre.
“Sunderland has long been in need of additional hotel beds. The opening of this second Travelodge means people visiting the city can stay in the heart of the city centre, which will be a real boost for city centre businesses.”
Today’s official opening comes after plans for another multimillion-pound hotel development, at the bottom of Chester Road, were given the green light by planning bosses.
The six-storey contemporary boutique hotel will have 125 bedrooms and will transform the site around Hind Street, between Sunderland University’s Chester Road campus and St Michael’s Way.
The scheme will also see the creation of a new pedestrian route to improve links between the Sunderland University’s Chester Road campus and the city centre and repairs and remodelling to the Grade II-listed building which house The Art Studio, with its extensions and outbuildings demolished.
The proposals see the hotel entered from Silksworth Row through a new public space, which would be overlooked by the lobby and restaurant/bar area. A drop-off zone for deliveries and arriving hotel guests would be created and the pavement and road widened.
Hope St would be stopped up and become hotel parking.
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