Shelbourne Hotel to join city accommodation race
The Australian | Ben Wilmot and Lisa Allen
Developer Addenbrooke will partner in the redevelopment of the historic Sydney pub the Shelbourne Hotel, with plans to restore it to a full-scale accommodation hotel in a bid to boost hotel supply.
The landmark pub located at 200-202 Sussex Street, which dates back to 1902, sits adjacent to Pyrmont Bridge at the western gateway to the city.
The O’Neil family company will redevelop the hotel in partnership with Towncorp, which owns the leasehold and had earlier proposed a residential apartment scheme for the site.
The pair will instead look to restore the property, installing a tower above it with a 140-key hotel, which will bring accommodation brought back to the site.
The building operated as a hotel from 1902 to 1975 but was then converted into a restaurant for 25 years before reopening as a pub in 2000.
“We look forward to working closely with all stakeholders to bring forward a project that continues the revitalisation and evolution of this important gateway location between Cockle Bay and the CBD,” Addenbrooke director Toby O’Neil said.
An artist’s impression of the redevelopment of the Shelbourne Hotel.
“We believe this hotel scheme will be uniquely received by the market, as it thoughtfully combines the site’s heritage character with contemporary design, creating a unique offering that blends the old with the new,”
A State Significant Development Application was lodged with the NSW government last week and the joint venture partners are awaiting the outcome.
The pair have lodged plans for the adaptive reuse of the Shelbourne Hotel in the Sydney CBD. The scheme will boost accommodation supply in the city and support Sydney’s growing international and domestic traveller market. It will also preserve the property’s heritage aspects as the plans are for an adaptive reuse of the existing building.
The developers are working with APM Services, Bates Smart and Colliers.
The scheme differs from the plans in 2021 when the city’s residential property boom appeared set to claim the pub, a former Fairfax Media watering hole.
That earlier scheme would have seen the heritage pub close and a major tower constructed above the distinctive building, with commercial and retail space planned for a podium.
The latest plan will instead see a reuse of the existing operational pub and take the asset to its original use as a hotel.
The Addenbrooke scheme will reconfigure the internal layout of the pub, expand its function space offering, and introduce 14 levels of hotel rooms, together with a hotel bar and rooftop plant facilities.
The previous scheme had proposed 42 serviced or for-sale apartments in a 152 meter tower but the new plan is for an 80 meter tower.
The final market positioning of the hotel is yet to be determined but is expected to fit with the building’s unique character.
