CovSoc member John Marshall reports
Plans to transform the historic Chace Hotel on London Road into a care home have now been abandoned, according to a health care charity.
The hotel closed its doors for the final time in December 2021 and ambitious plans were drawn up to turn the building into a mental health care home (see article ‘Remembering the Chace Hotel’, Coventry Society, Sept 2022). But current economic conditions have now forced developers to step back from the plan.
In an update to local residents, Cllr Roger Bailey quoted a statement from Deborah Stephenson, Associate Director of Accommodation Services for the charity Rethink Mental Health, who said a decision had been taken not to pursue the project.
“Given the rising costs due to high inflation and increased interest rates, the project is no longer viable and would not be value for money,” she said.
Surveys of the building, she added, had identified numerous issues, including the need to demolish part of the building, which would have added considerably to the original cost base. The development partners, she confirmed “will be withdrawing the planning application”.
The Chace Hotel was first built between 1897 and 1903 as a country residence for Dr Charles Webb Iliffe, who worked for 40 years as a coroner for Coventry and North Warwickshire. The house was sold after his death and became a hotel in the early 1930s.
The hotel survived for almost 90 years before the aborted care home plans were announced. The building is now surrounded by fencing and has its windows boarded up. Its future fate is unknown.
