Luxury apartments planned for Claremont Hotel site
By Rebecca Maer
A property developer is planning to build 55 luxury apartments on the site of the burnt-down Claremont Hotel opposite Eastbourne pier in a £20 million project.
No planning application has yet been submitted but an outline of the scheme is on Oasis Developers’ website.
It states that it will be “a transformative project” which will be “showcasing a prime investment opportunity in East Sussex”.
Oasis also says that the gross development value of the project is £20 million.
Eastbourne Reporter approached both Oasis and Eastbourne Borough Council to find out more and when a planning application can be expected.
Fin McCormick, sales and marketing director for Oasis, told the Eastbourne Reporter: "We have some exciting plans for the site but want to make sure the plans are as well thought out and well designed as we can before submitting them."
We have yet to receive a response from the council.
Oasis Developers, based in Chiswick, west London, lists itself as the contractor using Oasis Developers Eastbourne Ltd on the development as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which is a separate legal entity created for specific projects.
The website states: “This development promises to blend modern living with Eastbourne’s rich heritage, enhancing the coastal city’s residential offering.”
Other projects listed by Oasis Developers on its website include a development in George Street, near Hastings seafront, of 21 flats and commercial space.
The Claremont Hotel site has been an eyesore with peeling hoarding, scaffolding and colonising weeds since the building was severely damaged in a fire in November 2019 and was subsequently demolished.
Eastbourne Borough Council chief executive Robert Cottrill told the Eastbourne Society in August last year that a planning application was expected “over the coming weeks”.
He said in a letter to the society: “The enclosure of the site and the introduction of supportive scaffolding were intended as temporary measures and, at the point of installation, I am sure no one imagined they would be in place for a considerable time.
“That said, I am pleased to advise that we are expecting to receive a planning application for redevelopment of the site over the coming weeks...”
Mr Cottrill was responding to a letter from the society, raising its concern about the condition of the site, suggesting that it was a sign of “a complete absence of civic pride”.
The hoarding around it has peeling paint and patched repairs, the pedestrian crossing has long been blocked off and the site has been taken over by buddleia and weeds.
Clearance of the site cost EBC £68,400 in August 2020, according to purchase orders for that year.
The Grand Parade terrace originally comprised 19 houses when it was built in the 1850s, according to Historic England. It was a Grade II listed building. The neighbouring Burlington Hotel is across 13 of the houses.
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