One of London’s most recognizable buildings, the skyscraper BT Tower, has been sold and will be turned into a hotel.
Communications firm BT Group sold the building, which is located just off Oxford Street in the heart of London’s West End, to U.S. hotel owner-operator MCR Hotels for £275 million ($347 million).
MCR owns 150 hotels, including the High Line Hotel and TWA Hotel at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and the Pasadena Hotel & Pool in Pasadena, California.
A news release from BT did not detail MCR’s plans for the almost 600-foot-tall, Grade II-listed property, which on July 15 marks its 60th year. Older Londoners still refer to it as the Post Office Tower, named after one of its former residents.
The release did state that “payment for the sale will be made over multiple years, as BT Group equipment is progressively removed from the building, with final payment on completion of the purchase.”
BT has been a tenant for two-thirds of the 37-floor building’s history since 1984.
Holiday camp operator Butlins leased and managed Top of the Towers — a revolving restaurant on the building’s highest three floors — from 1966 to 1980. The restaurant made a full circle every 20 minutes or so. Diners could ask for a Certificate of Orbit to mark their completed meals.
A viewing platform occupied the very top of the building, providing a 360-degree view of the British capital, but it was closed down in 1971 following the explosion of a bomb.
MCR partners with almost 30 brands across its portfolio. No prospective brand partner has been announced for its latest acquisition.