M&L of Singapore swoops on Sydney hotel site
Singapore’s Kum family-owned M&L Hospitality is poised to add to its burgeoning Sydney hospitality portfolio as it trains its sights on a former electricity substation that can accommodate a major hotel development near the Barangaroo precinct.
M&L Hospitality, which is already undertaking a $US220-million ($320m) redevelopment of the nearby Four Points by Sheraton and adjoining conference centre, is well positioned to join the rush to bring new hotels to Sydney.
Lend Lease backed by tycoon Jerry Schwartz, along with China’s Greenland Group and Dalian Wanda Group, all have major projects under way, and other developers are planning a series of boutique projects as the city’s hotels perform strongly.
Now, M&L has swooped on a development site at 65-79 Sussex Street that has been owned by Alfasi Property Development in a direct deal worth just over $22m.
Alfasi was in the midst of securing development approval for the site, which houses a decommissioned electricity hub. It planned to convert the 1180sq m site into Quest serviced apartments, on a 21-year lease.
M&L Hospitality chief executive Neil Maxwell declined to comment about the site purchase, which Knight Frank marketed in 2014, while vendor Alfasi did not return a call.
If a deal is finalised, it will add to M&L Hospitality’s packed development pipeline in Sydney, which includes the near-complete multi-million-dollar upgrade of its Swissotel on Market Street.
While the Sussex Street site had been slated to become a building of Quest serviced apartments, property executives said M&L Hospitality was likely to consider other plays, noting the group was largely a pure-play hotel investor.
M&L, which has been flexing its development muscle, was considering a Sydney listing in late 2013 after putting a planned initial public offering in Singapore on hold in 2012.
The group has since refurbished DoubleTree by Hilton Melbourne and is now undertaking works on the Hilton Auckland in New Zealand.
Source: The Australian, Samantha Hutchinson, Ben Wilmot, 7th September 2015
Originally published as: M&L of Singapore swoops on Sydney hotel site
M&L has alsopicked up a major development site in Melbourne’s Southbank, proposing a 73 level mixed-use tower that includes 482 residential apartments and a 390-bed hotel.
Sydney has become a focus for boutique projects with hotel aspects.
Alfasi is selling another substation development site at 183-185 Clarence Street. The site opposite the Grace Hotel has a development application in place for both a hotel scheme and a residential development.
At 143 York Street, Taiwanese hotel operator Yeh’s Family Holdings has submitted plans to convert a nine-storey office block into a luxury hotel after it picked up the building for $21.25m earlier this year.
