Development approval has been granted for a new 11-storey hotel and mixed-use building at Canberra’s Garema Place as the city plaza undergoes urban renewal, continuing the city’s hotel trend.
Working with developer Geocon, the Fender Katsalidis designed building will encompass a 5-star hotel with over 200 rooms, a rooftop pool and bar as well as commercial and office space.
Fender Katsalidis associate director Jacqueline Bartholomeusz says the project continues the new high-quality hotel trend coming to Canberra that tie in with the regeneration across various precincts.
“The project offering with luxury hotel, commercial and entertainment options, as well as its overall design, will play a vital role in the reinvigoration of Garema Place,” says Bartholomeusz.
“It is a contemporary building with vertical detail and a subtle curved façade reflecting Bunda Street.
“The design is very much a response to the individual geometry of the site and overall needs of the precinct.”
The new project will be a lively addition to Garema Place, elevating the surrounding civic space.
“We are confident that the project can bring people back into the city with this important reinvigoration.
“The building engages with three frontages and will have a significant public element, prompting a higher level of activation,” adds Bartholomeusz.
The approved design is shaped so the building cascades south to allow sunlight into the plaza and maximises the additional site acquired that is currently home to Gus’ Place café, the city’s first hospitality venue to offer alfresco dining.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to reinvent Gus’ Place and we are excited to cater to a new iteration of the much-loved institution that will see an expanded venue on the same corner site,” she says.
Construction is set to commence late 2020 and completion slated for 2022.
Fender Katsalidis has played a large role in shaping the hotel scene in the nation’s capital with other projects including the Nishi Building, Midnight Hotel and the forthcoming luxury hotels coming to West Block and Kingston Arts Precinct.