Southport set to get its first business hotel, the seven-level Woodroffe Hotel

SOUTHPORT’S first business hotel, on the doorstep of the Chinatown precinct, could be open and trading by September.

Southport is about to get its first business hotel, the Woodroffe Hotel. Pictured is Nigel Tapper, general manager of Kyronn Pty Ltd. Picture: Richard Gosling

SOUTHPORT’S first business hotel, on the doorstep of the Chinatown precinct, could be open and trading by September.

Construction of the Woodroffe Hotel’s seven levels has been completed and fitout of the boutique property is under way.

It sits on the corner of White and Garden streets but does not resemble the design originally planned for the building.

When it was approved by the city council in January 2014 — only the second project to get the nod in the then new Priority Development Area — the building was to have a French provincial look and to be called the Skygarden Hotel.

Its 103 rooms also were to be strata-titled and sold off.

Nigel Tapper, general manager of Woodroffe project manager and builder Kyronn, said that the hotel had been redesigned to fit in with the character of the location.

“It’s now more of a modern contemporary design, one which has been embraced by the city council and the people of the area,” he said..

“It’s also a design that is likely to be more appealing to buyers should the owners decide down the track to sell out.”

The Woodroffe is being developed by a company associated with Kevin and Sue Chu, who have been resident in Australia for nearly 30 years and previously owned the management rights to the Azzura Green apartments at Hope Island.

The 708sq m Woodroffe site, which also fronts Garden St, was bought for $1.5 million last year.

Kyronn’s Mr Tapper said that the hotel, with rooms from 17 to 25sq m, was designed to suit not just business customers but tourists and short-stay visitors.

It would include a licensed cafe and a business centre, along with three shops of offices that would be leased and accessed through the hotel.

Southport-based Kyronn, headed by Gavin Boyle and which has a Fiji operation, has been an active construction group in the Southport area in the past four years, with its projects including the luxury Brighton Grand apartments and the Metro 88 tower.

It is in the final stages of building the 113-unit Varsity Waters overlooking Lake Orr at Varsity Lakes and is poised to start 59 units at Cleveland in bayside Brisbane.

The Woodroffe Hotel contract continues an association with the hospitality industry — Kyronn is building a boutique resort on a virgin island in Fiji and also has been undertaking hotel refurbishment work in the islands for the Radisson group.