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Student haunt may graduate to upmarket hotel under $20m proposal
Broadway's premier student dive, the Clare Hotel, is heading upmarket, with plans to incorporate the historic pub into a new boutique hotel.
Frasers Property has lodged plans for a 60-bed hotel - the first Australian addition to Singaporean hotelier Loh Lik Peng's ''Unlisted Collection'', which includes small designer hotels in Singapore, Shanghai and London.
Ambitious ... Kensington Lane.
The former Carlton & United brewery's administration building will also become part of the $20 million redevelopment, slated to open in 2014 as a gateway building to Central Park's ''Kensington Lane'' precinct.
The timber-panelled boardrooms dating from the brewery's heyday are among the heritage features to survive the conversion by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects, whose design will link the building to the neighbouring pub by a contemporary steel and glass building that will also serve as a hotel foyer.
The Clare Hotel's facade will be retained after it closes late next year, as will its external doors, most of its windows, the entrance staircase and ground-floor ceiling detailing.
But the main bar and its humble dining options will be swept aside by ambitious plans to transform the precinct into a ''eclectic food, beverage and entertainment destination''.
A ''marquee chef'' to head the new hotel's food and beverage team will be announced next year. Two signature restaurants fronting Kensington Street and a dedicated dessert restaurant are also part of the plans.
The redevelopment of the buildings, totalling 4600 square metres, will include a ''spectacular rooftop bar and swimming pool'' if the plans are approved.
The chief executive of Frasers Property Australia, Guy Pahor, said the reuse of the two heritage buildings would be a cornerstone of Kensington Lane.
The Department of Planning and Infrastructure has placed the plans on public exhibition until February 1.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 December 2012
