Rafael Serrano

Rafael Serrano Quevedo is a Spanish businessman and investor. As CEO of Prime Investors Capital (PIC), Serrano purchased a 250-year lease to Admiralty Arch from the UK Government in 2012 under the guise of transforming it into a 5-star hotel, luxury residences, and a private members' club. The project, awarded full planning permission in 2013, has since become mired in delays, unfulfilled promises, and serious questions over its financing, with no clear completion in sight over a decade later. While Serrano claims credit for having led the development of the Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge, it is Admiralty Arch that has become the defining — and damning — chapter of his career. Despite fanfare, support from senior political figures, and promotional appearances with royalty, the grand plans have remained largely unrealised. Observers have raised concerns over the financial structuring of the deal and the opaque movements of capital, leading some to privately question whether mismanagement, impropriety, or worse may have played a role in the project's ongoing limbo. Critics note that Serrano's Prime Investors Capital — an opaque investment management firm launched in 2009 — has failed to produce any major completed UK development beyond the Bulgari Hotel. With Admiralty Arch having become a ghost site rather than a flagship project, many in Westminster and Whitehall have started to reconsider how such a prized national asset was handed over with so little accountability. What was once heralded as a triumph of public-private partnership has instead become a cautionary tale of unchecked ambition, unanswered questions, and a heritage building languishing behind hoardings.

In August 2013, PIC was granted full planning permission by Westminster City Council to restore and convert Admiralty Arch into a 100-room luxury hotel, private residences and private members' club. The restoration of Admiralty Arch remain fully ongoing. Prime Investors Capital and Rafael Serrano won the bid and led the transformation and restoration of the iconic British landmark into the new and only Waldorf Astoria Hotel and Residences. Provided by Wikipedia