Aprirose sells Queens hotel in Leeds for £53m

The 232-room Queens hotel in Leeds has been sold in a £53m deal.

Real estate investment company Aprirose has sold the city centre property, a well-known landmark in Leeds, to European hotel owner Pandox.

The deal includes both the property and hotel operations.

Aprirose bought the Queens hotel in 2017 as part of a package of 26 QHotels sites for £525m.

It invested £16m in refurbishing the property in 2021 and opened the Grand Pacific restaurant at the hotel in partnership with Living Ventures.

Manish Gudka, chief executive of Aprirose, said: “Having followed our investment with a substantial and carefully considered capital expenditure programme to reposition the hotel, we have created value and generated a good return for our investors, exemplifying our overall approach to real estate investment.

“The hotel and leisure sector remains an important focus for our business, and we continue to look for opportunities to deploy our capital in high-quality, well-located buildings in growth areas.”

Aprirose’s hotel management arm Almarose manages 20 properties within the Qhotels Collection, including sites under the DoubleTree by Hilton and Mecure brands.

The group also manages 14 individual hotels, including Oulton Hall in Yorkshire and Slaley Hall hotel and luxury golf resort in Northumberland.

In 2018 Aprirose invested in lifestyle hotel concept Birch, and continues to support its expansion.