Former Stanmore Fire Station in Sydney set for new life as French Indochina-style hotel and restaurant

While the 892-square-metre site has approval for a 13-room hotel, it currently has six bedrooms, eight bathrooms and parking space for six cars, as well as a swimming pool and outdoor deck.

The former Stanmore Fire Station, one of the oldest fire stations in NSW, sold for more than $7 million. Photo: Supplied

The pair is not new to the accommodation industry, as their family owns the Lan Lan Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City and Ms Nguyen has experience running a holiday house in Australia.

Apart from ticking their business boxes, Ms Nguyen said it was the property’s period façade and historic significance which drew her to the building.

“The first time I saw it, I liked it immediately; the lights and colour attract people’s eyes,” she said.

The property has been used as a private residence, since it was bought by the vendor in 2006. Photo: Supplied

Ms Nguyen added that she chose to buy in Petersham because the suburb is close to the CBD, while not being in the city centre.

“If I buy in the city, people in the west may find it quite far to travel, because I intend to open a restaurant as well, so I want to attract a lot of customers from different sources and different suburbs,” she said.

“At the moment, the city is quite crowded and the parking fees are quite expensive, so a lot of people may find it inconvenient to travel the city.”

There are approved plans to turn the building into a 13-room hotel. Photo: Supplied

The style of the hotel will be reminiscent of colonial French Indochina, while the restaurant will serve up Vietnamese fusion dishes.

Passing the heritage-listed site on to aspiring hoteliers was what vendor Scott Feneck, who is moving to the Central Coast, had been hoping for, as he had originally wanted to run the historic building as a hotel himself.

He had invested a lot of effort into restoring the old fire station, Callagher selling agent David Giezekamp said.

“It was just grey with a concrete yard, not much happening before he (Mr Feneck) transformed it,” Mr Giezekamp said, adding that the new owners have plans to restore the former watchtower.

More than 100 groups enquired about the property and five made offers starting from $5 million. It received strong interest from buyers looking to redevelop it into student accommodation.

Other groups contesting for it included a winery company, which wanted to use it as their head office as well as accommodation for their international clients, and Chinese investors who wanted to land-bank the site.

Built in 1886, the building originally operated as the Marrickville Fire Station, and was the first station built for the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, the predecessor of the Fire and Rescue NSW.