Doors open for the first day of trading at the brand new Calile Hotel on James Street

THE doors opened on Thursday for the first day of trading at the brand new Calile Hotel on James Street.

The Calile Hotel, Valley

IT’S been a long time coming.

But the doors finally burst open yesterday for the first day of trading at the brand new Calile Hotel on James Street.

Sure, it’s one of those “soft’’ openings for a few guests, with areas set to be progressively unveiled over the next few weeks.

Yet it’s already clear that the $100 million project, masterminded by low-profile brothers Cal and Michael Malouf, promises to transform what is already one of Brisbane’s best retail and dining strips.

“It’s turned out beyond our expectations,’’ Cal told City Beat.

“There’s been a lot of interest and it’s all been positive so far.’’

The luxury development, with 178 rooms spread across seven levels, features a ground-floor mix of upscale fashion boutiques, a pool, cabanas, day spa, fitness centre and function space.

There are also a few eateries, most notably Hellenika, the second Greek restaurant established by Gold Coast-based hospitality figure Simon Gloftis.

NEIGHBOURHOOD CHANGE

The Maloufs have owned the 1.65ha site, bounded by Wandoo and Doggett streets, since 2001, when it traded as an unremarkable retail strip dominated by the old Spanish-themed Centro tower.

They forked out $12.8 million back then to buy the property from a super fund controlled by the Motor Trades Association.

The following year the brothers changed the neighbourhood forever when they launched the James Street Markets, including the Palace Centro Cinemas.

After knocking back a potential unit complex or office block for the Calile site about four years ago, they settled on a breezy resort-style hotel greatly influenced by the super cool art deco hotels that dominate Miami Beach.

Work on the project kicked off in mid-2016 and the brothers have named the hotel after their great-grandfather, who arrived in Australia from Lebanon in 1892.

Similarly, Ada Lane, an adjoining dining precinct with five new restaurants, got its name from their great-grandmother.

TFE Hotels group, which also runs the Gambaro Hotel on Caxton Street, will be managing the place.

Operating nearly 100 hotels across Australia, NZ and Europe, TFE has a mix of brands that include Adina, Medina, Rendezvous and TraveLodge.

ABSURD GONG

With administrators running the show, local government in Ipswich has fallen about as far as it can go.

But a ray of light has emerged from the corruption-tainted swamp that was the City Council.

Nominations were unveiled yesterday for the annual awards handed out by the Public Relations Institute of Australia.

Incredibly, among the nationwide finalists for “government in-house PR Team of the Year’’ was the gang from Ipswich City Council.

The mind reels. And no, we are not making this up.

TRAVEL GOAL

Globe-trotting Brisbane property titan Warren Ebert has set the bar high for his travels.

He’s already journeyed through 88 countries and now has the goal of hitting 100 by the end of next year.

To that end, the Sentinel Property boss and his sidekick Michael Sherlock have just returned from an eight-day sojourn through China with a private networking group.

One of the highlights, a tour of the headquarters of tech giant Tencent, sounded like something straight out of George Orwell’s 1984.

They learned about the latest facial recognition technology, which can now detect moods and the state of your health, and found CCTV everywhere.

The gents also came across countless examples of trademark ripoffs as the passed through Shenzen and Shanghai.

Knock-off Apple shops on the main tourist drags were justified by guides as simply good for tourism.

Ebert also discovered bogus Penfolds Bin 407 wine rebadged as “Pinfund Ben 407,” complete with references to WA.

He even found some of the dodgy drop in one of those little bottles you get in the hotel room bar fridge.