Engineering firm Rotolok has appointed property consultancy JLL to find a hotel operator or joint venture partner for the project.
Named after Sir Francis Drake, the 6.5 acre island hosted a military fortification in Tudor times and was home to a youth adventure training centre from 1963-89, but has been unoccupied ever since.
Planning permission was granted earlier this year to transform the site in to a 25-room hotel, restaurant and spa.
Rotolok, which also runs the boutique Sugar Ridge hotel in Antigua, plans to develop the existing jetty to lead up to an ‘arrival building' that will transport guests to the hotel reception in a glass elevator. It hopes its initial work to create safe access to the island will be complete in early 2018.
“At the stage we have now reached, we have decided to see if any specialist operators would like to join us in this exciting regeneration project,” says Sean Swales, managing director at Rotolok.
“Plymouth's waterfront is beautiful, we have an opportunity for Drake's Island to become a must visit UK destination and create something unique within Plymouth Sound.”
JLL will be marketing Drake's Island hotel regionally, nationally and internationally before calling for expressions of interest.
