Experience the opulence of the city’s most exclusive hotel
After a decade of procrastination, debate and negotiation, one of Australia's most exclusive hotels will open within weeks in Perth.
COMO The Treasury will accept guests from October 15 and bookings are already strong.
They will be well-heeled patrons — room rates range from $595 to $1295 a night, making it Perth's most expensive city hotel and in Australia’s top five.
But it will offer quality Perth has not seen from Egyptian silk sheets on king-sized beds to complimentary in-room bar and butler and chauffeur services.
An additional attraction is history with guests in 110-year-old rooms that housed WA's seat of power — the offices of premiers and the State Cabinet room in use in Sir David Brand’s time.
The hotel, on the St Georges Terrace and Barrack Street corner, links three late-Victorian stone-and-brick buildings that were also the State’s post office, land titles office and treasury.
Since 1996, the buildings have been empty. In 2007, the State Government decided a hotel was the best option and it has taken eight years to come to fruition.
The Weekend West was this week given exclusive access to the 48-room hotel and found the meticulous $110 million restoration is a perfect balance between sophistication and heritage.
The restoration, overseen by Kerry Hill Architects and FJM Property, kept 95 per cent of the buildings’ Victorian origins such as columns, dormer windows and cantilevered balconies. The detail is exacting from the 60,000 slate roof tiles from Wales and travertine floors from Turkey.
The rooms are on four levels, range from 45 to 120sqm and are all different with shape dictated by the original walls.
“The building spoke to us. It told us how many rooms we should have and how they should be configured,” project director Kyle Jeavons said.
The rooms are in soft palettes with limed oak furniture and bronze and leather trims.
One is significantly different — the old Cabinet room has its original jarrah wall panels but with a coat of paint.
The hotel will have COMO Shambhala Urban Escape spa, a 20m pool and gym. The original postal hall is an impressive thoroughfare for city workers which Mr Jeavons says will ensure the building is for everyone.
“Commuters and visitors will be able to come in, grab a quality coffee and appreciate the building,” he said.
Visitors will also be able to enjoy the same restaurants as hotel guests, including Michelin-star Thai chef David Thompson's Long Chim restaurant in the basement, under the floor of the postal hall.
The only new construction is a steel-framed glass-box on the roof that will house executive chef Jed Gerrard's Wildflower restaurant.
One of the most popular spaces will be the Petition beer corner and kitchen that will open on to St Georges Terrace and Barrack Street and feature an 18-tap beer bar, a contemporary menu from chef Jesse Blake and a city wine bar.
Several carefully chosen retailers will occupy a partly submerged retail space on St Georges Terrace.
COMO Hotels and Resorts is owned by Singaporean hospitality and retail billionaire Christina Ong and her husband Ong Beng Seng.
This is the company’s fifth city property with the others in London, Bangkok and Miami.
General manager Anneke Brown said all hotel guests would have a memorable visit.
“Not only will they be able to enjoy the hotel and the impeccable service we hope to achieve, but they will also be given access to our great city,” she said. “We will tailor every visit to the individual needs of each guest.”
The hotel was built with a 33-storey tower behind it. Built and owned by Mirvac and Keppel, it was handed over this week to be fitted out for the State Government, which will lease it for at least 25 years.
It includes a modern, secure “vertical” courthouse for civil courts and Supreme Court judicial chambers, and offices for the departments of the Attorney General and Treasury.
The tenants are scheduled to move in by next June.
Source: The West Australian, Ken Acott, 5th September 2015
Originally published as: Experience the opulence of the city’s most exclusive hotel
