19-storey hotel and apartment complex planned for historic Publishers Hotel site
The 100-year-old Publishers Hotel building on Franklin St would become the entrance to a luxury 19-storey hotel, under a $90 million plan lodged with the State Government.
City
Don't miss out on the headlines from City. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AN apartment building and hotel complex will tower over the former Publishers Hotel as part of a $90 million plan lodged with the State Government.
Victorian-based developer The Punvec Group has lodged an application with the State Commission Assessment Panel to build two, 19-storey towers, at the 2112sq m Franklin St site.
The 150-room hotel would face Franklin St and 96 apartments would be built in the tower behind.
The developer plans to retain the existing Publishers Hotel building – which is more than 100 years old and located between Tatham and Cannon St – as an entrance to the new hotel.
Existing brick warehouses at the site would be retained to create a “podium” connecting the two towers and were likely to include retail offerings, a bar, function centre, pool and gym.
Punvec Group chairman Rupinder Brar said the company’s plan was centred around retaining the site’s history, activating the city’s West End and creating a hotel close to Adelaide Airport.
“Our aim is to retain a lot of history, so a lot of brickwork and facade at the front,” Mr Brar said.
“It will stimulate this pocket of the city … it is a good gift for South Australians.”
The company is already in confidential discussions with a “four to five-star hotel operator”.
Mr Brar, who said Adelaide was “booming” with more migrants calling it home, does not expect the COVID-19 pandemic to impact the delivery of the development.
He hopes to start construction in 2021, pending approval.
“The construction market is still going on and we need to create jobs,” he said.
“The way see it is that we want to be ahead of the curve, especially when this is all over.”
The Publishers Hotel building opened in 1914 and was the former printing house of the Adelaide Stock and Station Journal, which later became the Stock Journal.
It later became the Cannon Street Backpackers Lodge before being refitted as a hotel and wine bar in 2014.
Cannon Street Backpackers was known for “not having many rules”, serving apple pie every night and hosting two weddings, a local hostel website says.
The Publishers Hotel closed in December and all its equipment went under the hammer in February.