Leading boutique hotel chain Malmaison is behind plans to transform Dundee’s landmark Tay Hotel, The Courier can reveal.
It dominates Dundee’s waterfront but the building has fallen into disrepair since it shut in 1997.
Now, it looks set for a new lease of life under one of the most exclusive hotel groups in the country.
A Malmaison spokeswoman said although the deal had not yet been finalised, the company is working closely with developers to restore the building, on a prime location just yards from the proposed Victoria and Albert Museum.
She said, “It is potentially a Malmaison project. We are interested in it and we are working with the development team.
“The building was something we were very interested in and after the success of our Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen hotels, Scotland has been very good to us. Our chief executive officer Robert Cook is Scottish and so is keen to develop the Scottish market.
“They are our key reasons but I think we also see Dundee as something of an untapped marketthere aren’t any other boutique hotels.”
A planning application for the hotel, built in 1898, was submitted to Dundee City Council last week, lodged by the building’s owners, MEC Services (International) Ltd.
It wants to build a two-storey extension and re-open the hotel with 91 bedrooms complete with brasserie, private dining room, whisky snug and cellar.
Glasgow architects Curious House is responsible for the plans. It also designed the Aberdeen Malmaison and the Hotel du Vin in Edinburgh, which is owned by the same company.
Earlier this year Dundee-based developers Unicorn Property Group revealed it had plans to transform Customs House into a 104-room boutique hotel.
Dundee’s waterfront area already has the Apex Hotel and Holiday Inn but local property experts say there will still be a shortage of hotel beds in the city if the two new developments go ahead.
Andy Boal, of commercial property consultants Ryden, said, “The Tay Hotel probably would not happen without the V&A. Studies show Dundee is short of hotel bedseven with the Tay Hotel and Customs House, it will still be short.”
Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick believed Malmaison would be the first in a series of “big names” to come to Dundee in the coming years. “The city is firmly on the map internationally and we can expect a lot of others to be looking to set up a base in Dundee.”