London’s Admiralty Arch to become Armani flagship hotel

Italian fashion brand Armani, will turn London’s iconic Admiralty Arch into a luxury hotel, it was claimed today.

The deal, which is yet to be made public, is said to be worth £100m and could see guests staying in the Grade I listed Victorian building as early as December 2015.

However, the transformation process will be difficult and Admiralty Arch is understood to be in a very poor state and in dire need of major repairs.

According to reports in The Daily Mail, Westminster Council is now reviewing the application and is expected to rule in the next six months.

A leading hotel source told LondonlovesBusiness.com that the hotel has been under review by many major hotel chains for some time, but that it had failed to find a suitable candidate to take over the building.

The government has already leased the building, lining the road alongside St. James’ Park and connecting Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace, to Spanish entrepreneur Rafael Serrano who was behind Knightsbridge’s glitzy Bulgari Hotel.

Serrano has pledged to preserve the hotel’s period features and work closely with authorities.

A source told the London Evening Standard: “Armani has been looking for the ideal London base for some time and this is the result of a long search. It is a closely guarded secret but the plans are at an advanced stage.”