All-change on Altyre Road: plans for the Croydon Park Hotel site have altered drastically, from 447 flats to a 246-room ‘apart-hotel’
A year later than promised, with little more than half the homes proposed in the planning application, and with no sign of the 39- and 36-storey towers that council planners had insisted upon, there are plans for the Croydon Park Hotel to re-open next year, but not as private rental flats, as originally proposed by owners Amro Partners.
Instead, it will be called “The Canopy”, what the owners describe as a “premier” “apart hotel”, and representing a massive U-turn from the previous, multi-million-pound proposals.
Amro have binned their ambitious redevelopment plans to demolish the 1960s-built hotel and replace it with “The Botanical”, and 447 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats for private rent, and have instead opted for repurposing the building into 246 “studios and apartments”.
Barely noticed: a council notification of another planning application
One of those statutory notices that are pinned to lampposts and read by nobody has appeared nearby, but is for another development. There’s nothing to be seen, or found on the council’s planning pages, to notify or explain the much-changed Amro scheme.
Not that Amro are getting ahead of themselves or anything, but a website marketing apartments in The Canopy looks to have been updated on May 14.
Soaring construction costs and a less-than-vibrant private rental market in London are likely to have deterred Amro from pursuing their original plan, which they valued as a £220million scheme. There has been no mention of their Croydon site on the company’s own website for almost three years, a firm indicator of how another development in Croydon that had stalled.
Bargain: how Amro are marketing The Canopy, even though they don’t have planning permission just yet
Having fleeced one local authority – Croydon – once in their bargain basement acquisition of the Croydon Park Hotel site, Amro may be looking to make another killing from public funds, with the possibility that they might rent out their apart hotel apartments to councils to use as temporary accommodation in a housing crisis.
According to Amro’s website, the one-bedroom, two-person apartments in The Canopy are to be rented out for £1,400 per month. For that, you get free wifi, gym membership and don’t have to pay any Council Tax.
Amro describe themselves thus: “We are next generation managers. Combining our deep sector expertise with significant data science capabilities, we deliver consistently strong investment returns and successful residential communities.”
They have a similar apart-hotel repurposed building which has recently opened in Kingston. Lettings there may not be going as well as expected: the company is offering six weeks rent-free to new tenants.
And while they have not yet been granted planning permission for their significantly revised plans in Croydon, Amro have contractors on site, gutting the interior of the derelict hotel.
Builders on site: work is already underway on the Altyre Road site
The Croydon Park Hotel closed in the midst of the covid lockdowns in 2020, when the site was owned by Croydon Council, and it was used for a time to provide emergency accommodation during the pandemic.
The council’s purchase of the Croydon Park Hotel in 2018 remains a lasting controversy, not only because the then council leader, Tony Newman, and his finance henchman, Simon Hall, pushed the deal through without proper scrutiny and debate, but because they somehow agreed to buy the freehold of the hotel for £29.8million – £5million more than the asking price.
That purchase of the Croydon Park Hotel is seen as one of the mistakes which plunged Croydon Council into bankruptcy.
That wasn’t the end of the dodgy deals, though.
The 2021 sale by the council in a post-bankruptcy fire sale of assets for a bargain basement £25million under a Labour-run council also raised questions. Amro were at the time clients of Terrapin Group, the developers’ PR firm where Stuart King, then a Croydon Council cabinet member responsible for property disposals, worked as a director. Councillor King has always maintained that he played no part in the sale of the Croydon Park Hotel.
Lifestyle: CGI images of the common areas of The Canopy are aimed at ‘young professionals’
Whatever the background to the deal, Croydon Council Tax-payers are the ones short-changed yet again.
The Amro marketing website says today: “Coming Early 2027 – The Canopy: a premier apart hotel arriving in the heart of Croydon.”
Inside Croydon’s loyal reader while be very familiar with the marketing bollocks that follows… “Situated in the vibrant heart of Croydon, you’ll have world-class shopping, eclectic street food, and essential amenities right on your doorstep.” Seriously.
“Enjoy the perfect balance of urban energy and green escapes, with the peaceful trails of Park Hill, with East Croydon Station only a short walk away, you’ll benefit from fantastic connections, putting central London and the south coast within easy reach.
“The Canopy offers a warm, welcoming community and unparalleled convenience, blending modern, high-rise living with the very best of south London’s cultural revival.” Which is nice.
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