Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has announced plans to bring its W Hotels brand to Scotland with the W Edinburgh. Opening in 2021, the 214-room hotel will be the centerpiece of TH Real Estate’s 1.7-million-square-foot Edinburgh St James development, which is slated for completion in 2020.
Designed by Jestico + Whiles, working with Allan Murray Architects, the 12-story building will have a unique façade crafted from a winding steel “ribbon.”
The Edinburgh St James development will see the shopping center currently on site replaced with retail space, a movie theater and up to 250 new homes, as well as the W Edinburgh. The project will support the city’s tourist industry, which contributes an estimated £260 million to Edinburgh’s economy each year.
TH Real Estate is an investment management company that specializes in real estate equity and debt investment worldwide. The company is owned by TIAA-CREF with £584 billion in assets under management as of March 2015. Launched in April 2014, TH Real Estate has offices across America, Asia and Europe, representing an estimated £17.4 billion of real estate assets.