Global hotel groups are descending on Leighton Beach as the next wave of development emerges.
Global hotel groups are descending on Leighton Beach as the next wave of development emerges.
International hotelier Hyatt has chosen Western Australia as the starting point for the national roll out of its Hyatt Place branded hotels.
The property will be the Hyatt group’s second hotel in Perth, joining the Hyatt Regency in East Perth.
Plans have been lodged for the Hyatt Place hotel to be developed at Leighton Beach, with a development application submitted to the City of Fremantle by Hotel Development Group, which owns and operates the Ibis Styles hotel in Albany, expected to be assessed in coming weeks.
Hotel Development Group has contracted CIMC Modular Building Systems to construct the five-storey, 110-room hotel, which will be the first modular project worldwide for the Hyatt brand.
CIMC has also been contracted to build two DoubleTree by Hilton hotels for Malaysia-backed SKS Group using its modular techniques, at Barrack Square and at 98 James Street in Northbridge.
The North Fremantle Hyatt Place includes a restaurant and bar at ground level for public use, as well as a rooftop function area with beach views and a pool area for guests.
It will have a construction timeframe of around 12 months if it is approved to go ahead.
The hotel is the first project in WA for locally based Hotel Development Group, after it was not able to progress any further from preferred proponent status for a four-star hotel on the Albany waterfront in 2013.
Since then, Diploma Group and Quest Serviced Apartments were appointed by the state government to progress plans for an Albany hotel, however that proposal also fell over late last year.
LandCorp is in discussions with the state government and the City of Albany to explore alternative uses for the site, after Diploma and Quest said a hotel development just didn’t stack up in the current economic climate.
In Leighton, the Hyatt hotel is part of a new wave of projects emerging at the North Fremantle beach, where national developer Mirvac Group is progressing the second stage of its $351 million Beachside Leighton plan.
Pre-sales for two new buildings in the second stage, Prima and Meridian, were launched in the middle of last year.
The buildings, which will both be five storeys, will be adjacent to the Hyatt site, closer to the beach.
A timeframe has not yet been finalised for the construction, but according to Mirvac’s latest property compendium report released to the ASX, the project will be completed by mid-2018.
Once all construction is completed, Mirvac will have delivered 280 apartments at the beachside precinct.
Also in close proximity, Singaporean developer Roxy-Pacific Holdings and its joint venture partner Hostplus recently acquired a 4.4-hectare industrial site just to the south of the Mirvac/Hyatt land, for $59 million.
The partners intend the rezone the site for residential and commercial uses, and have contracted Pindan Capital to provide development management services.
Pindan director of development management Nick Allingame said settlement for the site would likely occur next month, while rezoning was a process that would take a couple of years.
Mr Allingame said the preliminary plan was to provide a diverse range of housing options at the site, in contrast to the multi-million dollar offering by Mirvac.
"We see it as a great opportunity to create a coastal community with some different affordable options," Mr Allingame told Business News.
"You've got the train station nearby and that combined with what's already happened at Leighton means you can create a good little community where there will be some cheaper options for first homebuyers to get into, there might be some townhouses.
"They're not all going to be multi-million dollar apartments and we'd also love to be able to get a small farmers' market in there. It's a great little spot."
Mr Allingame said the large scale of the site gave the joint venture partners the ability to provide the range of built-form options.
"Sometimes when you buy a site you're a little bit limited in what you can do just because of the physical dimensions," he said.
"Here we've got enough room to come up with a really good master plan and try to make sure we've got a good diversity of product and prices that suit everybody."
Roxy-Pacific will provide 40 per cent of the equity required for the purchase, while Hostplus will contribute the remainder.
Roxy-Pacific is also progressing plans for a 23-storey, 332-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel at 609 Wellington Street, which was approved last month by the City of Perth development assessment panel.
