Pontiac’s plans for Sydney luxury hotel
Singapore’s Pontiac Land Group plans to turn one of Sydney’s sandstone landmarks into a luxury hotel.
The site in question is the heritage-listed 'Sandstones,' or the Lands and Education buildings on Bridge Street in Sydney's CBD.
Pontiac bought a 103-year lease over the buildings from the NSW government for $35 million and is now planning a $300 million makeover which will turn the historic property, which dates back to the 1880s, into one of the world’s finest luxury hotels with 254 rooms.
It plans to complete the six-star hotel by the end of 2020. It will come with ground-level retail, dining and a rooftop salon.
The plan is to have the ground floor open to the public with high- end restaurants and retail shops.
It might also potentially have room for a market running along Gresham Street serving such delicacies as oysters, wines and cheeses.
Pontiac has yet to announce which operator will run the hotel.
The project will be overseen by British architect Ian Lomas, of Make Architects, who refurbished the fashion departments and public areas of Harrods in London. Lomas has moved to Australia to manage the job.
Make Architects had previously been part of the design team for the reinvented Wynyard Station precinct.
"When you are designing a project within a historic building you have to listen to that building," said Lomas told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"Treat it like an archeological investigation. You go right back to the first architecture sketches and you follow them through to the current day…[refurbishing] shouldn't mean you are trying to eliminate previous generations...but adding another layer of your generation...of your time."
Deloitte Access Economics has projected that work on the hotel will create 110 new hospitality jobs and 240 jobs during construction with the project itself delivering $185 million over 20 years for the NSW economy.
by Leon Gettler, November 11th 2016
