A new Radisson Blu hotel has officially opened its doors as one of the final parts of Sheffield’s pioneering £470m Heart of the City regeneration project.
The new hotel welcomed its first guests on Monday but was formally opened on Tuesday morning by Lord Mayor Jayne Dunn in front of invited media.
It is a key plank in the city council-led Heart of the City scheme, which has been gradually transforming the town centre with new office space, homes, restaurants, shops, Europe's largest purpose-built food hall and a public park.
The council has been working with strategic development partner Queensberry to deliver the regeneration scheme after a previous retail-led proposal called Sevenstone and involving developer Hammerson was scrapped in 2013 in the wake of the global financial crisis after years of problems.
Sean McClean, director of regeneration and development for Sheffield City Council, told The Yorkshire Post: “Heart of the City is a £470m scheme the council has brought forward and the Radisson hotel is a significant part of that.
"It is about providing what will be the premium hotel in the city centre and something there is a shortage for.
"When the council went out to market, we had significant interest from a range of operators and we are really pleased to be working with Radisson to bring it forward. I’ve got to know the Radisson team and I'm sure they are going to make a phenomenal success of it and it will be a fantastic addition to the city centre offer.
"There are not a great deal of hotels of this quality in the city centre. It is giving people somewhere different to come and eat with a fantastic balcony and sights over the city. The hope is it will become one of the places to be in terms of people having a special night out or a celebration meal in the city centre.
"It builds on everything else we have done. It is about driving footfall and giving people a reason to come back into the city centre. The numbers of people we have seen come into the Cambridge Street Collective food hall have been phenomenal.
"This is the first of a new type of city centre generation as we move away from being retail-dominated.”
