$150m Four Points by Sheraton to open at Central Park
Starwood will open a new 297-room Four Points by Sheraton hotel at Central Park in 2018, completing the final piece of the huge $2 billion urban renewal project in Chippendale by Frasers and Sekisui House.
Designed by architects at Foster + Partners, the $150 million Four Points By Sheraton Sydney hotel will be operated by Starwood under a long-term management agreement with Frasers Property Australia and Sekisui House Australia.
The hotel forms part of the fifth and final stage of the urban regeneration project on the site of the Old Kent Brewery near Central Station and across Broadway from the University of Technology Sydney.
News of the hotel brings to eight the number of Starwood’s new properties in Australia with a 273-room Four Points by Sheraton Melbourne Docklands and a 224-room Aloft Perth Rivervale both set to open by next March. Other hotels under construction include Westins in Peth and Brisbane, the Sheraton Adelaide and W Brisbane.
The Central Park location will fill some of the gap created by the loss of the Four Points by Sheraton at Darling Harbour, which has been undergoing extensive renovations and is set to become an 892-room Hyatt Regency from December 1. Separately, Starwood recently lost its management contract for the Sheraton Noosa in southeast Queensland, which will become Accor’s Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort from June 13.
“With the International Convention Centre opening in 2016, we will be extremely well-placed with a new 4.5-star hotel nearby,” Andrew Taylor, Starwood’s director of acquisitions and development in the Pacific, told The Australian Financial Review.
The new hotel extends Starwood’s partnership with Frasers and Sekisui House in Asia. Starwood has developed eight hotels with Thailand’s Charoen Corporation Group, the majority shareholder of Singapore-listed real estate giant Frasers Centrepoint, the owner of Frasers Property Australia and three with Sekisui.
“Frasers Property Australia and Sekisui House Australia are excited to be working with Starwood Hotels & Resorts to launch Four Points by Sheraton Sydney, Central Park,” said Frasers Property Project director, Mick Caddey.
Starwood’s $17 billion global merger with Marriott Hotels, due to bed down next month, will create the world’s biggest hotel group. In Australia the merger will create arguably the country’s premier luxury hotel operator with brands like Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Sheraton, W and Westin all under one roof, and 10th-biggest overall in the nation with more than 5000 rooms.
In Sydney, it will put Starwood-Marriott in a strong position in the upper scale market with six hotels including the Sheraton on the Park, Westin Sydney, the Pier One Sydney Harbour, Autograph on Miller’s Point near the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay.
The new hotel will feature 297 guest rooms, a bar and lounge with an outdoor terrace, a restaurant, nearly 550 square metres of function space and a fitness centre.
