Parramatta will boast a luxury five-star intercontinental hotel by 2025 if a plan by Holdmark Property Group is approved.
The Sydney-based developer has filed plans with Parramatta Council for a dual tower development, one of which will accommodate the luxury hotel.
Touted as Parramatta’s first five star luxury hotel, it will comprise 212 rooms across a slender 31-storey tower capped by a rooftop bar and signature restaurant with outdoor terrace.
The hotel boom in Sydney’s emerging “second CBD” is well underway despite Australia’s tourism and hospitality sectors taking another Covid hit from the Omicron variant.
Along with a 24-storey office tower, the hotel will sit atop a three-level retail podium and four levels of basement that will feature a grand ballroom as well as car and bike parking.
Also included in the project is a wellness spa, gym, swimming pool, all-day dining and a ground-floor lounge bar.
The development is earmarked for a high-profile 4300sq m holding—bounded by Church, Macquarie and Marsden streets—in the heart of Parramatta and sits next to a site subject to a planning proposal and design competition for a future Hilton Hotel.
Several other hotel developments are currently planned or underway in Parramatta and expected to deliver 945 new hotel rooms by 2025.
The openings will correspond to the start of operations at the new Western Sydney Airport in 2026.
Parramatta is expected to become a hub for tourists visiting Sydney who can be in the CBD in 20 minutes on the new Metro West.
Among the surge in activity, brands like QT, Sebel, Sheraton and Travelodge have been jostling to secure a foothold in the area as it continues to undergo a phase of urban revitalisation and transformation.
Confidence in the future of Parramatta
The recent development application lodgment by Holdmark of the plans for its 197 Church Street project reinforces its confidence in the market and booming Parramatta CBD going forward.
“We’re very confident in the future of Parramatta,” Holdmark property and marketing manager Kristy Nassif Elias told media outlets.
“Omicron is impacting a lot of things right now but eventually tourism and everything will pick up at some point.”
If approved, the development will replace a mix of two- and three-storey retail and commercial buildings on the site, including the heritage-listed Murray Brothers Building, the facade of which will be retained under the plan.
“The proposal will be a truly city defining development that will contribute to the evolution of Parramatta as the heart of the Central River City,” the development application said.
Diagonally opposite the historic Paramatta Square, the planned office tower has been designed by architectural firm Scott Carver with a layered form that “curves and twists as you move vertically”.
As part of the project’s overall design approach, a First Peoples partner was involved in the process, resulting in a narrative of culture, heritage and sense of place with the creation of a public through-link called Ngara Nura Way—a name meaning: “listen to Country, learn from Country and to share knowledge”.
“Ngara Nura Way not only physically connects the three bounding streets to close and form a block, it also symbolically connects two cultures together,” the design statement said.
“Overall, the design proposal will contribute positively to the urban life of the precinct, connect with its rich history and culture, and align with the transformational evolution in growth and prosperity currently witnessed in Parramatta.”
Sources: Holdmark Property Group, Urban Developer
