London’s BT Tower is transforming into a luxury hotel after £275,000,000 sale

The iconic BT Tower landmark is about to undergo a major transformation which will see it turned into a hotel.

The iconic BT Tower landmark is about to undergo a major transformation which will see it turned into a hotel.

The iconic 620ft landmark, located close to Tottenham Court Road, is being stripped out and undergoing a major revamp, after more than half a century of being closed off to the public.

The tower, which sits in the middle of Fitzrovia, was the tallest structure in the capital when it was built in 1964 – until it was surpassed by the NatWest Tower in 1980.

It was first opened in 1965 by then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson and opened to the public a year later, with a rotating restaurant on the 34th floor that offered complete views of the capital.

The site’s Top of the Tower restaurant was closed following a bomb explosion in the men’s toilets, prompting the closure of the whole tower to the public in the 1980s.

The tower’s restaurant re-opened in 2015 for two weeks to celebrate the BT Tower’s 50th anniversary before shutting down again.

Last year, however, MCR – the third-largest hotel operator in the United States – bought the tower for £275,000,000 under plans to re-open the landmark to the public for the first time in almost 50 years.

MCR’s proposals for the building were released earlier this year as part of a wider public consultation process, which ran throughout May.

The proposal includes being able to spend a night in ‘the Stick’, located on levels seven to 23, a part of the tower that has always been off-limits to the public.

The top of the tower will see the installation of an observation deck that will ‘tell the rich story of the BT Tower and telecommunications’, while also offering 360-degree panoramic views of London.

For the restored Podium and Howland buildings, which sit at the base of the tower, plans include several hotel rooms, as well as an amenity space, a publicly accessible square, and new retail, food and beverage shops.

New pedestrian walkways will also be created to give the public a chance to look up at the tower from below for the first time.