Virgin Hotels sells site which launched the brand in £57m deal
Virgin Hotels Chicago, which marked the debut property for the hotel brand 10 years ago, has been acquired in a £57m deal. The 250-room property has been purchased by an affiliate of Michigan-based firm Accelerated Assets, which specialises in converting properties to timeshare investments.
According to its website, Accelerated Assets provides “the financial resources and creativity to fuel the future of vacation ownership, real estate, and other large-scale assets.” It is not known what the firm’s plans are for the Chicago site long-term, but Virgin Hotels has confirmed that the hotel will continue to operate under the Virgin brand for now.
Virgin Hotels is part of UK billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, which also operates Virgin Airlines and Virgin Media.
Branson is reported to have invested £87m in the redevelopment of Chicago’s landmark Old Dearborn Bank building, transforming it into the boutique hotel which launched in 2015 as the first site for Virgin Hotels.
The sale appears to represent a loss for Virgin Hotels, having failed to provide a return on investment.
Since the launch of Virgin Hotels Chicago, the Virgin Hotels brand has expanded to other US locations including Dallas, New York, New Orleans, Nashville and Las Vegas.
The brand made its UK debut in 2023 with the launch of two hotels in Scotland – one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh – although the former closed after less than a year of trading when the owner of the building went into adminstration. A third UK site launched in London earlier this year.
by Eamonn Crowe