A new co-working space is expected to open at the former Selina hotel in Cliftonville next month.
The site is being managed by staff from EKS Security on behalf of building owner Margate Holdings Ltd which bought the property in June 2022 for £1.5m.
Margate Co-work and Stay will first offer the co-working space with plans for the bar/restaurant to reopen shortly afterwards and a longer term proposal to get the rooms ready for use.
The Selina Hospitality group went into administration with Andrew Johnson, Sam Ballinger and Ali Khaki of FTI Consulting LLP appointed as Joint Administrators of Selina Hospitality PLC on 22 July.
Although Selina Hospitality subsidiaries remained under the control of the directors and local management, there was no funding from the main group to provide any financial support.
Keith Tilbury, from EKS, said work is taking place to clean up the property – which prior to the Selina group had been family-owned Smiths Court Hotel for some 40 years.
He said: “The owners of the property have taken back control. Selina left the place in a bit of a mess so there is a lot of work to do.
“We aim to have the co-working open in the next two weeks. We will be providing staff to run on a skeleton crew as well as our security throughout the night.
“We also want to reopen the bar and are looking for local businesses to collaborate with as we feel it is important to get the bar and restaurant back open and this will bring more jobs.
“Selina was a big company but they have washed their hands of the European site and owe substantial money.
“We are trying to hit the ground running to get re-established with the co-work and restaurant. We want everything to be local and then from there we will look at getting the rooms reopened.
“We’d like to thank staff past and present for their efforts.”
Keith says work has already taken place to clear the exterior, ready to welcome visitors back.
The co-working will be open Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm.
Anyone interested in getting involved with the restaurant, or looking for updates, is asked to follow and contact the new facebook page: Margate co-work
