A top north hotel has unveiled multimillion-pound plans to transform a historic site in the heart of Inverness into new up-market accommodation.
The directors of the city’s Kingsmills Hotel have lodged plans for a major revamp of the Maple Court Hotel on the banks of the River Ness.
They hope to invest £6.4million turning the eight-bed guesthouse into a four-star hotel with 52 rooms and a high quality restaurant.
The move would create 60 jobs and secure the future of the B-listed Maple Court on Ness Walk, which is expected to close its doors and be boarded up next month.
The proposal was hailed last night as a huge boost for the city and a vote of confidence in its booming tourism sector.
If planning permission is approved later this year, the developers hope to start work next spring and be open to guests in early 2018.
The Maple Court has been subject to several previous planning applications, but none of the proposed developments have made it off the drawing board.
A design statement for the new project describes the existing building as in “poor condition” and requiring significant investment to stop it from becoming derelict.
Formerly the home of Dr William Simpson, a provost of the Royal Burgh of Inverness, the mid-19th century villa is B-listed and the design has carefully retained important features such as the ceiling, cornices and veranda canopy, as well as the trees in the gardens.
The existing building would remain, with its interior transformed and an L-shaped extension built to house almost all of the bedrooms, as well as creating a new courtyard.
Tony Story, managing director of Kingsmills owners the Patio Hotel Group, said: “We genuinely think that this is a very worthwhile development.
“It saves a listed building and it adds to the amount of high quality accommodation in Inverness.”
The group, which operates a policy of buying goods and services from local suppliers, has already invested about £21million in the Kingsmills since taking it over in November 2007, trebling the resort’s turnover in the process.
With hotel occupancy rates in Inverness at about 95% this summer, Mr Story is confident there is demand for new high quality accommodation in the city.
“The town is getting busier and busier,” he said.
“There’s a massive opportunity for good restaurants as well.
“Many restaurants in the city can’t accommodate the high demand from diners during the summer.
“It’s important for us to have a really, really good restaurant.”
Inverness Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stewart Nicol welcomed the plans last night.
“It’s a brilliant piece of news. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the Kingsmills and it’s great to see somewhere that has obviously struggled being turned into a top class venue and experience,” he said.
“The Kingsmills do a superb job and it’s great news for them. A hotel like that at the side of the river will be a stunning setting.”
Mr Nicol added: “We have got a very pressing need for hotel accommodation in the city and to see a development of that scale, at the top end, is very encouraging.
“It would be a very significant boost for the city.”
