A financial crisis engulfing one Perthshire luxury hotel has raised questions over the fate of another planned for Perth.
The Courier revealed on Saturday that the Dunalastair Hotel Suites at Kinloch Rannoch has gone into administration with debts of more than £4m.
The five-star landmark is part of the Rogue City Hotel Group.
And so is The Capital – the “boutique hotel” proposed for the former council offices at 1-5 High Street in Perth.
However, The Courier has now learned the Rogue City Hotel Group is being shut down.
And the company behind the Perth project has not responded to our questions about what that means for 1-5 High Street.
Perth and Kinross Council came under fire when it emerged it was planning to sell the former council offices for £1.
It later signed a development lease with a company called Henley Homes.
The council still owns the building. But the deal gives the developer the option to buy it after the work is completed.
However, Henley Homes is now in liquidation.
And it’s a different company, Lock Terrace Ltd, which has submitted a planning application to convert the 1870s building into a luxury 74-room hotel.
Perth boutique hotel ‘will not be part of Rogue City brand’
The Courier contacted the London-based Rogue City Hotel Group to discuss the Dunalastair Hotel Suites and what its difficulties meant for The Capital in Perth.
A woman who identified herself as “a receptionist who answers the phone for many different businesses based at 50 Havelock Terrace” said the group was being shut down.
“Rogue City Hotel Group doesn’t exist,” she said.
“The Rogue City Hotel Group is currently in the process of being closed. We don’t have any hotels under that name.”
She went on: “Perth is at least another 18 months to two years away before it even begins. But it won’t be under the Rogue City brand.”
The woman said the hotels in the Rogue City collection were run by separate companies.
And she said queries about the Perth boutique hotel plan should be directed to Lock Terrace Ltd.
The company shares an address with the Rogue City Hotel Group.
However, our attempts to contact Lock Terrace Ltd on Friday, Monday and Tuesday went unanswered.
Council expects to rule on planning application this year
The Perth project is still listed on the Rogue City website as part of its hotels collection, alongside the Dunalastair and a number of other locations.
It predicts “the transformation of one of its best-loved landmarks will bring a timely boost to the city’s future fortunes”.
And it sets out plans to open part of the building – the former district court – as “a unique event space and visitor attraction in its own right”.
1-5 High Street has been empty since 2008.
Rogue City Hotels chief executive Nassar Khalil previously said he wanted to use prisoners to convert the property.
A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson said: “Councillors agreed to grant a development lease of the former offices in 2022 and the developers have the option to purchase the building when work has been completed.
“Our planning and placemaking committee is expected to determine the planning application submitted by Lock Terrace later this year.”
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