New hotel lifts Queen Victoria Market site

A new hotel has gone up in the Queen Victoria Market precinct, as developers circle another key site nearby.

Melbourne’s newest apartment hotel — the Veriu Queen Victoria Market — has opened on Therry St. Picture: Supplied

A new hotel has lifted the Queen Victoria Market precinct as the City of Melbourne gets ready to develop another key site in the area.

Developers are circling the market’s so-called southern site, which could reap a $1bn boost for the city economy.

Just opened is 110-room apartment hotel Veriu Queen Victoria Market, ­opposite the Dairy Produce Hall on Therry St.

The Veriu Group’s first Victorian property, it has a range of self-contained room types and sizes, a cocktail bar, pool, outdoor terrace, conference ­facilities and a guest laundry.

Chief executive Zed Sanjana said Veriu had gone for locations enjoying high demand from corporate travellers.

“But this property is also ­expected to appeal to both domestic and international leisure travellers looking for boutique, design-driven flexible accommodation options at the gateway of the CBD,” he said.

Veriu has opened ­opposite the market’s Dairy Produce Hall. Picture: Supplied

The hotel features a cocktail bar, pool and an outdoor terrace. Picture: Supplied

“Queen Victoria Market is Melbourne’s most popular tourism attraction, and with its $268m renewal already well under way, the revitalised precinct is forecast to attract over 18m visitors by 2051.”

The hotel is in the Munro site, a city council-owned parcel of land sold to and redeveloped by PDG Corporation.

The site also has 490 Mirvac-built rental apartments, ­affordable housing, and will later have a council-owned library and community facilities.

The council is in the process of divesting the market’s southern site, bounded by Franklin, Queen and Peel streets and adjoining the historic Franklin St stores.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said various commercial partners had interest in developing it.

“The development will contribute more than $1bn in value to our economy, and create thousands of local jobs during construction and once the project is complete,” she said.

The council bought the Munro site in 2014 for $76m to provide community facilities and protect the market from the possibility of supermarkets and chain stores moving there.

PDG Corporation’s Vince Giuliano said he was pleased with the vision Veriu brought to the hotel design.

He said: “Not only will the new hotel combined with the ground floor restaurants and bars provide this part of Melbourne with some much-needed amenity, we also believe it will pave the way for other brands and businesses to follow suit as the precinct ­renewal program really starts to gather momentum.”