Work starts on $30m hotel at old Julio’s Restaurant

Construction works have begun on a $30 million, 14-storey hotel at the old Julio’s Restaurant site in West Perth, another around the corner on Walker Avenue has been approved to go ahead, while a vacant CBD site earmarked for a $47 million hotel has changed hands in a deal worth $17 million.

The Julio’s Restaurant plan has been revised from a 12-level plan knocked back by the City of Perth’s design advisory committee in November 2013, over concerns regarding design quality and the way the proposed building integrated with the heritage building on the site.

The new plan for the site at 1309 Hay Street, put forward by Australian Development Capital and designed by Oldfield Knott Architects, is to build a 14-level, 95-room hotel and refurbish the now-vacant federation-style building that formerly housed Julio’s Restaurant.

A building application was lodged with the City of Perth late last month, while the revised proposal has already won endorsement from the city's design advisory committee.

A forward works permit was issued late last year and ADC executive director Adam Zorzi said piling works were completed ahead of the New Year, with excavation on the basement level largely complete.

“Practical completion is scheduled for the end of January next year,” he said.

"It’s a pretty iconic location, West Perth is pretty well undercatered for hotels, and as we know, the broader Perth market is fairly well undercatered as well. 

"We’re very proud of the fact that we’ve actually got a hotel project out of the ground, because there are lots and lots of them being talked about but not a lot of them actually being built."

Midway through last year, Singapore-based SilverNeedle Hospitality, which operates a range of hotel brands including Chifley Hotels, Country Comfort, and Australis Hotels and Resorts, among others, signed a deal with ADC to operate the hotel under its 4.5-star Sage Hotels marque.

Mr Zorzi said the hotel would be aimed at corporate travellers, while the heritage building would include a bar and restaurant on the ground level, meeting rooms upstairs and three boutique suites.

“The main hotel lobby is in the ground floor of the new tower, but the walls on the back of the heritage building are being opened right up,” Mr Zorzi told Business News.

“So when you walk into the hotel lobby, which will be quite contemporary and slick, you’ll also look into the heritage building and the bar and restaurant will be open to the lobby, so you get that activity and activation.”

Other developments by ADC in the past few years include mixed-use apartments and office project Brixton 6011 in Cottesloe and the Vale Town Centre in Aveley.

The developer and funds manager purchased the Julio’s Restaurant site for $3 million in August 2013, in a deal brokered by Realmark Commercial.

The other project in West Perth is a nine-level, 120 room proposal at 4 Walker Avenue, with a $12.5 million base construction cost, which was approved yesterday by the City of Perth DAP.

The plan was put forward by Rowe Group on behalf of landowner 4 Walker Ave Investments, a privately-owned company controlled by Melbourne-based David Tarascio, part of the family that owns construction and development company Salta Properties.

Salta’s construction arm had been active in Perth until it terminated its contract at Raine Square over a contract dispute with the building’s then-developer, Luke Saraceni’s Westgem Investments.

A previous proposal for a 51-apartment project at the site was approved in December 2012, but lapsed in December last year after it made no progress.

An artist's impression of the hotel proposed for 4 Walker Avenue.

Meanwhile, Singaporean property and hospitality group Roxy-Pacific Holdings has announced a sale and purchase agreement worth $17 million to buy the vacant site at 609 Wellington Street from fellow Singapore-based group Crescendas Hospitality.

Late last year, Crescendas lodged an application to develop a 23-storey, 332-room hotel at the site with a base construction cost of $47 million, a proposal set to be evaluated by the City of Perth development assessment panel in coming weeks, as reported recently by Business News.

Crescendas bought the land, which was formerly used as a Wilson Carpark, for $5.5 million in January 2012, in a deal brokered by Colliers International.