Parramatta, Aird Street: Hotel to be built after insults fly
Parramatta councillors have labelled a 22-storey hotel planned for the CBD as an “ugly concrete prison only suitable for coffin storage” despite supporting the proposal.
Parramatta
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Parramatta Council has supported a plan to build a 22-storey hotel next to Westfield shopping centre but it will still be maligned by some opponents who labelled the building a prison without windows.
The 155-room hotel at 55 Aird St first came before the council in 2018 but will now advance to the Planning Department for final approval.
At a recent meeting, Liberal councillor Benjamin Barrak blasted the poor design of the block and said it was incapable of achieving any architectural merit.
“Do you want to build a world-class, international city that is recognised for its excellence in architecture or do you want to have walls that are concrete across a length of 22 storeys?’’ he said.
“It would be an eyesore, it would be ugly, it does not represent the Parramatta that I want to belong to.’’
The insults kept flying.
Labor’s Patricia Prociv dubbed the building awful.
“A city is more than its buildings and it does make a prison. Having worked in one, I wouldn’t want to live in one. It seems to be part of the human condition to be able to see outside and if we can’t, I don’t believe it’s good for our psyche.’’
Independent councillor Lorraine Wearne was more scathing: “This is all I can see this building will be fit for and that’s the storage of coffins.
“I do not care to have concrete boxes and I will not vote for a concrete box on 650sq m of land. They don’t even store pallets in the Coke factory in that kind of room in those kind of conditions.’’
But the hotel also has plenty of backing.
Liberal councillor Bill Tyrrell said the proposal should push ahead despite its image problem.
“I personally don’t like the concrete front but at the end of the day we’ve relied on council staff to negotiate these things. This was discussed as part of the CBD Planning Proposal — there’s been many, many discussions through many, many workshops.
“If we do not give our investors in the city some certainty to what’s going on, then we may as well close it up.’’
Independent councillor Andrew Wilson pointed out to Cr Barrak that in the same meeting he voted for a “massive development” at Thomas St, outside of Parramatta’s CBD, labelling the contradiction arbitrary.
Deputy Lord Mayor Michelle Garrard dismissed opponents’ comments about the building not having windows.
“There will be windows, there may not be balconies, it is a small site,’’ she said.
“It would not meet building code if it did not have any windows first of all.
“Second of all, it’s a hotel and after travelling this year overseas, there’s plenty of places that people are looking for, smaller and cheaper accommodation spots. Why not have one in your CBD?’’
There have been plans to amalgamate the site with properties in Chinatown, and expand the hotel but it will most likely emerge on the 650sq m spot after approval for the heights to soar from 35m to 80m got the green light.
Councillors Tyrrell, Wilson, Garrard, Pierre Esber, Martin Zaiter, Andrew Jefferies and Bob Dwyer supported the planning proposal be sent to the Planning Department for final approval while councillors Prociv, Wearne, Barrak, Phil Bradley, Sameer Pande, Prociv and Donna Davis opposed it.
The hotel will provide more accommodation options for visitors to Parramatta and is part of its hotel boom, which includes the five-star Hilton, which is slated to open at Macquarie St in 2023, the $239 million 55-storey QT at Phillip St and the 239-room Holiday Inn Express at Smith St.
Plans are also under way for a hotel atop the Murray Buildings site at Church St.