A 94-room hotel development is the latest proposal for a seven-storey Hamilton office block facing an uncertain future after several years of gathering weeds while sitting vacant.

The offer to breathe new life into Victoria Hall, across from the City Hall car park, would “rehabilitate the massive structure and bring it back to life”, according to architect Vanessa Daniel, of the consultancy firm HDH Ltd.

The proposal suggested 40 total employees for the hotel, with about 16 staff for a restaurant at the site.

The plans have won support from the Corporation of Hamilton, which noted that the project stood to create a “significant opportunity to enhance the City and contribute towards developing a more vibrant urban environment”.

Ms Daniel’s proposal for a hotel, to be called Sankofa House after a Ghanaian proverb on reviving the past, called for the restoration of a structure past its best.

The pitch to the planning department said: “From every angle, the existing building at 11 Victoria Street shows signs of deterioration after years of abandonment.

“Rust stains streak the façades as if tears crying from neglect.

“Unkept shrubs peek through planters and overhang balconies trying to escape confinement and begging for attention.

“Faded splotches dot the painted exterior walls like unwanted age spots.

“The longer the building sits uninhabited, the quicker it will succumb to the unforgiving climatic conditions of Bermuda.”

It marks the latest proposal for the block, which was expected to become the world headquarters of the cryptocurrency firm Arbitrade in a 2018 purchase of the $6.5 million property that never went farther.

Last year, plans surfaced to repurpose the block for an urban farm, while its walkways have provided occasional refuge for the homeless.

Victoria Hall has also been suggested as a new home for an expanded Bermuda National Library.

Ms Daniel noted the building’s long commercial life span, which came with five storeys along the Victoria Street side and seven to the north on Park Street.

She added: “At the time of its construction and for some 30-plus years later, 11 Victoria Street served its purpose as a commercial office building.

“Now, the building is nearly 40 years old and abandoned. Without question, it needs maintenance and repair.”

City Hall’s letter of support called the hotel concept an “adaptive re-use proposal” that would add an extra storey with the potential to be topped by a rooftop bar.

Aside from the changes to the exterior, Ms Daniel’s letter to the planning department called for a remake of Victoria Hall’s interior, with its elevators moved to the centre of the building and hotel rooms lining the outside of each floor.

Rooms would come in seven varieties, with luxury suites at each of the corners on all floors.

The letter added: “But most of all, the proposed hotel offers something that is missing from the business core of Hamilton: short-term accommodation in the form of a hotel.

“The hotel would also offer the typical amenities to guests including an indoor lap pool, hot tub, gym, business centre and a covered outdoor rooftop terrace.

“It is important to note that although the City of Hamilton supports a rooftop bar, at the moment, there are no plans for such an establishment.

“There is, however, on the ground-floor level of Victoria Street, space allocated for a restaurant lounge [to be operated by others]. It would be open to guests and to the public.”

The proposal said that the rehabilitation of Victoria Hall would not only “revitalise and enhance the site and surrounding areas”, but stood to be “a massive sustainability and energy-efficiency objective because the existing building is being re-used”.

However, it also noted that the proposal failed to adhere to “several” policies of the City of Hamilton Plan 2015.

Ms Daniel’s letter requested for the Department of Planning to deny the application as a “soft refusal”, enabling the next steps to be pursued through an appeal.

It cited traffic management and parking requirements under the 2015 plan, along with the increase in habitable storeys, and the addition of a covered outdoor space at the top of the building, taking it to a height of slightly more than 130ft.

However, her letter highlighted: “At this time, it is important to note that under the new City plan, which is expected to be enacted within the year, these prohibitive points would disappear because the new City plan will allow for taller buildings.”

It therefore suggested that “rather than exhaust the resources of the board by requesting they exercise discretionary power examining the merits versus the guidelines, we respectfully request that this application be turned down in a prompt manner so that we may move forward with next steps: an appeal”.