Australian Hotel to get art deco revamp

Iconic inner city drinking hole the Australian Hotel is about to get a complete overhaul.

The Solotel Hospitality Group has outbid more than five contenders and secured the hotel which is one of Sydney’s oldest.

The group has purchased the original hotel building located on the prominent corner site of Broadway and Abercrombie Street as well as three heritage terrace houses fronting Abercrombie Street.

The plan is to give it a complete revamp and return it to art deco glory.

There’s will be a beer garden in a rear courtyard and three adjoining terraces will be converted into a European-style wine bar.

All this was contained in the detailed plans for the site submitted at the end of an international expressions of interest campaign brokered by Ray White Hotel’s Andrew Jolliffe.

The Australian Hotel was built in 1938 as one of four pubs included within the original Carlton United Brewery site.

It is now being converted into a new complex of residences and retail called Central Park.

The renovated hotel will be part of Central Park’s Broadway street frontage embedded within the Foster + Partners designed DUO towers and there are plans to turn it into a major social focal point for the Central Park precinct with more than 5000 residents.

As a successful operator of 26 diverse hospitality businesses, we are confident Solotel will deliver an outstanding refurbishment of what was one of Sydney city’s most significant and well-loved heritage pubs,” Central Park project director Mick Caddey told The Australian.

No-one is saying how much the pub was sold for but it comes at a time when pub values in Sydney and Melbourne have been climbing higher.

“We find ourselves in a liquid debt market with rates at cyclical lows. The Australian dollar is still attractively priced for both investors and tourism participants alike. And Australia remains a comparatively safe harbour and politically stable environment to both travel to and around, as well as invest in,” Caddey said.

By Leon Gettler, May 12^th 2016