Second Port Adelaide Quest Hotel to bring economic boost, accommodate defence industry

A second Port Adelaide hotel has hit a critical milestone, with its owners saying there’s one key way it’ll help local businesses fill their wallets.

A $35m hotel development is expected bring an economic boost to local business and accommodate the growing defence industry in Port Adelaide after it opens its doors next year.

Built adjacent to its sister site – Quest Hotel – Quest II will comprise 88 rooms across six storeys and feature floor-to-ceiling glass with balconies overlooking scenic views of the Port River and Adelaide Hills.

Speaking at the topping-out ceremony on Thursday, developer Hans Ehmann said the first hotel helped revitalise nearby areas and he expected the subsequent development to do the same.

Quest II Hotel in Port Adelaide – A $35 million hotel set to open in Port Adelaide next year is expected to bring an economic boost to the area.

Quest II Hotel in Port Adelaide – A $35 million hotel set to open in Port Adelaide next year.

Contributing to this, he said, was the decision to exclude food and beverage from the first hotel to ensure guests patronised local businesses, something that would carry over to its sister site.

“It’s resulted in an instant blossoming of restaurants in the nearby section of Commercial Road, where most of the heritage buildings now have a new lease of life,” he said.

“In this development, we’ve also excluded food and beverage and I expect that this Quest will do the same for the adjoining British Hotel because it appears not to have benefited much from the first Quest and has until now been a marginal enterprise as a result.”

Mr Ehmann added that in locating the second build adjacent to the first, it has “finished off a stretch of Port Adelaide renewal”.

“Locating it elsewhere would have left a pair of dilapidated buildings detracting from the new builds on either side,” he said.

The hotel is also expected to accommodate some of the growing defence industry in Osborne, with the shipyard anticipated to triple in size to construct the nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS security pact.

Ascott Limited Australia New Zealand managing director David Mansfield and developer Hans Ehmann at the topping-out ceremony.

Development plans have been submitted by Hans Ehmann of the Neville Smith Group for a $35 million-dollar hotel development situated on Port Adelaide’s riverfront. Picture: supplied.

Ascott Limited Australia New Zealand managing director David Mansfield said the hotel “couldn’t be better located” as the nation rebuilt its defence capabilities.

“AUKUS will be a 60-year opportunity and people will need a place to stay and the two Quest properties will help do that,” he said.

Mr Mansfield said the hotel will have a conference room with a 40-person capacity for business meetings and has been built with a corporate clientele in mind.

Port Adelaide Mayor Claire Boan said the site will not only bring tourists to the area but help accommodate industry.

“We’re also aware of the great need that defence has in terms of accommodation needs,” she said.

The hotel is expected to be handed over to Quest in June next year.