Hackney Hotel revamp to include small pub, units and townhouses
A POPULAR hotel in Adelaide’s east would be reduced to a third of its size. Here’s what’s going there instead.
THE Hackney Hotel would be reduced to a third of its size and the rest of its site filled with 42 apartments, 13 townhouses and serviced accommodation under a $14 million plan lodged last week.
A shop topped with three storeys of apartments would face Hackney Rd, while two and three-storey townhouses would face Richmond and Bertram streets, according to the development application lodged with Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council.
All but the state heritage-listed part of the hotel would be demolished.
The hotel on 5000sq of land has been owned by Peter and Jenny Hurley since 2012 in a partnership with Adelaide Crows footballer Nathan van Berlo, former Crow Mark Ricciuto and Melbourne player Bernie Vince.
The project is a joint venture between them and V-Three Hackney Pty Ltd, owned by former SANFL footballer Mark Conway, GHE Pty Ltd and Ruan Perera.
Mr Perera said the project was in response to “changing trading conditions” in the hotel industry, which Mr Hurley previously said was suffering because of lower discretionary spending in the struggling economy.
Mr Perera said the development would be a better fit with the area than the hotel, which billed itself as SA’s best function venue.
“It’s a huge improvement to the streetscape of Richmond St and Bertram St,” Mr Perera said.
“It will become much more integrated with the current streetscape and it goes from a large-scale hotel complex to a small-scale hotel development.”
The hotel would reduce from 2500sq m to 843sq m to become more of a “local tavern”.
Mr Hurley said this was what residents in the area wanted.
He said the traditional hotel business was less and less profitable and the Hackney Hotel had particularly suffered under “unreasonable bureaucratic conditions” limiting patron numbers.
“There are some unreasonable conditions on the licence that have evolved over the years,” Mr Hurley said.
“The maximum persons on the premises are much lower than the capacity of the facility and we also have a problem where there’s even lower numbers after midnight.”
The area is zoned for buildings up to two storeys high.
There is no minimum site area.
Previous motel and apartment proposals for the site were rejected in 1998 and 2003.
The project will be assessed by Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council.
Mr Perera expected work to begin in 2017.
He said it would likely not be affected by works to add bus lanes to the middle of Hackney Rd as part of the State Government’s O-Bahn tunnel project.