A 673-room hotel development off Princes Street is set to get a £75,000 cut in payments towards tram infrastructure after an error in calculation.
Hotel chain Zedwell won permission to redevelop the former Debenhams on Princes Street in March, pending a legal agreement on financial contributions to mitigate the hotel’s impact.
But in a report before councillors at the Development Management Sub-Committee next Wednesday, officers say that the required contributions had been miscalculated.
In Edinburgh, developers are required to pay to mitigate the impacts of their projects, with funds often being directed towards running and improving various public services.
Zedwell’s redevelopment was originally charged £237,648 for contributions towards tram infrastructure, but this has been revised down to £162,112 – a saving of £75,536 for the firm.
Council papers said that the miscalculation resulted from a mix of under-billing the firm for the amount of retail space in the development and over-billing for the amount of hotel space.
They have recommended that councillors approve the new, reduced tram contribution from the developers to allow the project to proceed to its next steps.
Zedwell plans to refit the former department store with a mix of normal hotel rooms and “capsule” rooms, and introduce retail spaces on the Rose Street side of the ground floor.
Some 328 bedrooms are normal, with some having no exterior windows – while 345 will be capsule-style rooms, with a bed taking up virtually all of each room’s floor area.
The Debenhams store was built behind 109-112 Princes Street, and opened in 1978, with an entirely new concrete structure built behind the four building facades.
Most of the existing structures were destroyed, but much of 112 Princes Street – the former Conservative Club – were retained.
A historic roof in the former smoking room of the club is set to be kept, but will be covered up with a false roof to help the room meet modern health and safety guidelines.
Bedrooms along the front of the hotel will be built in a range of sizes, to ensure they match up with the windows in the existing facade.
Zedwell’s planning application said the windowless rooms making up the majority of the hotel’s bedspace would fit the “extensive areas of dark floorplates” within the building.
Within the 1970s-era concrete portion of the building, a lightwell will be built, allowing for some rooms with windows to be constructed away from the street.
A new sixth storey will be added to the building, adding a rooftop bar and three outdoor terraces. While not visible to Princes Street, they will offer views of several landmarks.
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
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