YORK'S only five star hotel has been sold to new owners.

Four years after opening the doors to the new £30 million Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa, in Station Rise, the Cedar Court Group has sold the Grade II listed building for an undisclosed sum.

Splendid Hospitality Group, based in London, will take ownership of the 107-bedroomed hotel from the end of the month.

The discreet sale, which saw the property on the market for six months, attracted bids from national and international hotel groups, with Splendid clinching the freehold.

With a portfolio of 14 hotels, Splendid is an existing investor in York. As well as owning the Express by Holiday Inn near Monks Cross, the company is on site developing a new hotel in Walmgate, which will operate under IHG’s ‘Indigo’ brand.

Shiraz Boghani, chairman of Splendid Hospitality Group, said: "The York hospitality market is an exceptionally robust one and quite simply, assets of this quality do not come along every day.

"More importantly, York is a top UK destination people want to visit both for business and for pleasure and we look forward to working with the hotel’s management team to deliver a best in class service for our guests."

The Wakefield-based Cedar Court Group acquired the former North Eastern Railways headquarters for redevelopment in 2007, purchasing the property for £11 million.

Kevin Henry, group managing director of Cedar Court Hotels, said: "The sale of our York hotel represents a good result for Cedar Court Hotels and is part of our wider group strategy to concentrate resource and investment into our core estate of 4-Star hotels.

"We are delighted to have worked with the Boghani family who already operate a number of upscale hotels and we believe their experience will enable the hotel to continue to thrive and develop even further."

As part of the sale the new owners have been given the rights to use the Cedar Court name for up to a year.

Christie + Co director Jon Patrick, who coordinated the sale, said: "This transaction was undertaken both quickly and discreetly utilising our key industry and financial contacts.

"York is definitely a golden brick hospitality destination these days and the sale of Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa continues our recent work in the city which has included the Hampton by Hilton in Toft Green, and the Indigo in Walmgate."