AN abandoned cinema is set to be transformed into a 120-bed luxury hotel after a transformation bid was approved.
Colchester Council has given the green light to architects working with the Marriott hotel group to transform the old Odeon site in Colchester city centre into a 120-bed Moxy hotel.
As part of the transformation, the building will retain its 1930s façade with the new hotel sitting behind it.
The approved blueprints also include new car and cycle parking facilities, including electric vehicle charging points.
City centre councillor Steph Nissen is pleased the new hotel will add to Colchester’s “diverse accommodation offer”.
She said: “This will increase employment and tourism for the city and give some love to a historic, unused building.
“So many of us have fond memories of the Odeon. Now more people can make new happy memories thanks to Moxy.”
Ms Nissen also urged architects and designers to be “respectful of and sensitive to the building’s heritage”.
Planning bosses wrote to Cavaleri Partnership, a firm of architects based in Cambridge, on Tuesday to confirm work must start within the next three years.
Many residents and stakeholders supported the bid, with several people calling on the planning authority to ensure the former cinema’s 90-year-old façade is retained.
The planning conditions state the council will insist on seeing evidence “restoration and reinstatement works to the façade have been completed in full” before the hotel opens.
Work at the site in Crouch Street will be allowed to take place between 8am and 6pm on weekdays and between 8am and 1pm on Saturdays. No work will be allowed on Sundays and bank holidays.
The Moxy brand has also been linked with the former post office in North Hill, where an application to convert the empty building into a hotel is yet to be decided on by planners.
Marriott, which owns the Moxy brand, seemingly refused to commit to either site after the bid to transform the old Odeon was launched.
At the time, a spokesman said the company “has not signed any agreements for a new Moxy development” in Colchester.
The hotel chain has been approached for further comment.
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