Sold signs have gone up outside Blackpool’s former Abingdon Street Post Office which is earmarked for a £26m renovation into an Indigo-branded hotel.
However while contracts have been exchanged, the sale may not be completed until the summer. The Grade II listed building has been owned by Fylde-based businessman Joe Thompson since 2015.
A Blackpool Council spokesperson, said: “We are working with the developers who have exchanged contracts but not completed. As the project develops we look forward to sharing more information.”
The site, which also includes the former sorting office on Edward Street, is due to be sold to developer Ashall Hospitality in a deal supported by £8m of Levelling Up funding awarded to the council by the previous Conservative government.
In January the council approved a grant funding agreement with Ashall Hospitality (Blackpool) LLP which is continuing to explore the viability of redeveloping the building into an Indigo Hotel.
The sale could be completed by the middle of April, but there is also an option to extend the deadline to mid July.
Some of the £8m of Levelling Up funding is being used to carry out surveys, while the rest will be released in instalments towards the purchase and construction phases once the purchase is hopefully completed.
The Grade II listed building has been empty since 2007 and has since fallen into disrepair with many of the windows now broken and the iconic phone boxes at the front, which are also Grade II listed, also in a poor state of repair.
Redevelopment includes building an extension with a roof top terrace on the former sorting office, and a three-storey rear extension after the fifth set of plans for the building were approved in September 2023.
It is hoped to develop a high-quality hotel, including a mix of around 150 rooms that are suitable both for the conference/corporate market and the leisure market.
The ground floor would also include a restaurant and bar for hotel guests and non-residents, with frontages on both Abingdon Street and Edward Street, with the design incorporating the old post office counter.
The scheme received Levelling Up funding in March 2023 after twice being turned down for funding in bids made by the council.
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