Deputy PM Richard Marles finds the recipe to fix Geelong CBD
Corio MP Richard Marles gets first taste of living at Geelong’s newest residential address as landmark $200m project comes to completion.
Property
Don't miss out on the headlines from Property. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A $200m hotel and apartment project is an example of how to fix the woes affecting Geelong’s CBD, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said on Friday.
Mr Marles joined Franze Development boss Paul Franze to cut the ribbon and officially open the Geelong Quarter project on Ryrie St.
Geelong Quarter is a 15-storey project comprising two towers with 124 apartments and a 180-room Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites.
RELATED: Geelong hot spots where house prices have doubled the fastest
Could a Fed Square vision create a beating heart in the city?
Potential buyers line up for Geelong West hotel towers site
Residents have already starting to move in to their one, two and three-bedroom apartments in Ryrie Home (two-thirds of apartments had sold to owner-occupiers), while workers continue the finishing touches to the neighbouring tower, where 15 luxury apartments sit above the hotel complex.
Celebrity chef Adrian Richardson was on hand to lead a cooking demonstration, handing a gas blowtorch to Mr Franze and Mr Marles to caramelise the top of their crème brulees, also confirmed to the audience he would be opening a restaurant at Geelong Quarter.
The first official bookings for the Geelong Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites, which will have 157 standard rooms and 23 apartments, are for September, Mr Franze said.
“This landmark development stands as a symbol of the region’s growth and progress,” he said.
“When we were first offered the site in 2017, aside from the fact that many people thought it was commercial lunacy and a potential financial disaster for Franze Developments, we decided to press forward.
“We saw the huge potential in Geelong.”
Mr Marles said the project was fantastic for the economy in terms of the jobs and the amenity being built within the city, but also in context of solving the issues impacting the wider CBD.
“(The CBD’s) gone through I think a difficult period of time where there have been more modern precincts like Westfield, which is a really good retail amenity, but a lot of the strip shops have struggled and have struggled to find tenants,” Mr Marles said.
“There’s been an ongoing discussion about how do we breathe life back into the CBD and make it something that is vibrant and modern and exciting and high quality and the retail that exists.
“And it’s not rocket science that the answer to that question is ultimately people.
“We need people living in the CBD, here. We need people to come and stay in the CBD, at the Holiday Inn.”
Mr Marles said the location draws residents and visitors to the cultural precinct.
“It’s going to be fantastic living here or staying at the Holiday Inn and walking across to the Arts Centre to see a show, or the Geelong Art Gallery which is one of the hidden treasures of our town.
There are a small number of apartments still available to purchasers at Ryrie Home.
Originally published as Deputy PM Richard Marles finds the recipe to fix Geelong CBD
First look: New Coast shopping centre for surprise site
A long-empty site in a surprise location will be transformed into a retail showroom complex under fresh plans lodged with the council. FIND OUT WHERE
Revealed: How much rent you need to pay in every Qld suburb
Rents have increased again in 252 Queensland suburbs, reversing the brief downward trend recorded just three months ago. See how your suburb compares!