Wing and Accor Agree Hotel Development
Liberty Hotel by Wing.
Wing and Accor have concluded a long-term agreement for a 12,000-plus sqm hotel at the 42,000 sqm Liberty office development complex for a dual-branded hotel under the Ibis and Tribe names. The 3-star ibis and the 4-star Tribe will each operate half of the building, with 332 rooms. This will be the first Tribe Hotel in Hungary.
Construction is underway, with the hotel due to open in the fall of 2023, according to Wing. The south wing’s ground floor will house the reception and lounge facilities, which will also function as a business area. The hotel will include a conference and event venue with a capacity for 220 people, a restaurant, and a gym. The rooms will be located on the fifth to eighth floors in the first phase of the two-phase development.
“As a multifunctional building, Wing’s flagship development, Liberty, will have a unique position in the Hungarian real estate market. The synergy of the hotel function and the office spaces in the building will offer unparalleled opportunities to modern businesses,” says Norbert Schőmer, deputy CEO and manager for office development.
The recovery in the Budapest hotel market has been slow since the removal of travel restrictions due to the coronavirus. However, real estate consultancy CBRE estimates that 1,140 hotel rooms will be opened in Budapest this year.
“While performance metrics clearly show that demand for hotels decreased due to the effects of COVID-19, hotel development did not plummet. Planned hotel pipeline peaked just before the pandemic, and while there were international delays in 2020, most of the announced developments are being realized in 2021 and 2022,” comments CBRE.
Easy Access
The location of Liberty will make the hotel complex suitable for both business travelers and tourists with a direct road link to the Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport and easy access to the city center. Wing is aiming for BREEAM “Excellent” certification for the building, located in District IX on the outer Budapest boulevard at a tram, metro, and road transport hub.
The complex, penned by DPi Design Studio, will include a rooftop running track and sports fields, a 1,000 sqm quiet interior garden with outdoor workstations, bicycle racks with changing rooms and showers, and electric car charging stations. A rooftop bar will be available to hotel guests and tenants.
The mixed-use hotel-office south wing is expected to be completed in early 2023, while the development of the 20,000 sqm north wing is taking place simultaneously and is scheduled to be completed by late 2023.
Wing has developed 1.2 million sqm of space in Hungary and has ongoing projects in the office, industrial, retail, hotel, and residential property sectors. The company is looking to expand in the Central and Eastern European region and is the majority owner of the Polish developer and investor Echo Investment, which is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The company has also purchased two office buildings in Sofia.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, the Budapest office pipeline for 2023 stands at 362,000 sqm, 57,000 sqm of which is already pre-let, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of November 5, 2021.
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