Historic Birmingham building on the market

An historic Birmingham building at the centre of plans to create a new hotel and leisure complex has been placed on the market.

Methodist Central Hall, in Corporation Street, is being marketed by property agencies Savills and Sanderson Weatherall but a guide price has not been disclosed.

Built in 1904 by local architects Ewan Harper and James A Harper, the grade II*-listed, terracotta building totals 90,400 sq ft of space.

It is a well-known landmark in the city centre, once home to the famous Que Club until 2017 which hosted a wide range of bands such as Daft Punk, David Bowie and Blur.

But it has been mostly empty for many years, has fallen into a state of disrepair and has previously been named on Heritage England’s At Risk Register.

In 2022, Irish outfit Press Up Hospitality and sister company Oakmount won planning consent from the city council to regenerate the building to create a new 155-bedroom hotel called ‘The Dean’.

Other plans include a rooftop restaurant, food and beverage units and restoration of the central hall for events while a three-storey extension would be added to the building’s roof.

The developers estimated that the project could create 400 jobs.

However, no work on creating the mixed-use complex has taken place and last year receivers were appointed by the project’s funder.

Michael Maguire, director in the Savills Birmingham development team, said: "The sale of Central Hall presents a rare freehold development opportunity to acquire arguably one of Birmingham’s most iconic Victorian buildings in Birmingham city centre.

"Given its prime location, in the heart of the civic quarter, and the huge potential it has to create an exciting, hotel-led development, with scope for potential alternate uses, we are expecting the site to attract a high level of interest."