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The Argyle nightclub site at The Rocks will reopen this Friday, April 11, as The Collective – a sprawling three-venue-in-one hospitality hub. Sydney’s newest upmarket eating and drinking precinct would be a bold gamble at the best of times, but more so now given the unpredictable economic landscape.

“No one is opening 300-plus seat venues like this at the moment,” said Frank Tucker, chief executive at Hunter Street Hospitality, the group with a stable of restaurants including Rockpool Bar & Grill, Spice Temple and Sake.

Tucker said The Argyle remained profitable right up to its closure in the first week of January, the end of an impressive 17-year run. But he felt the grand bones of the 1880s wool store deserved something on the level of The Collective.

A massive renovation followed. Tucker won’t bite on exactly how much has been spent, only that it’s a “multimillion-dollar” investment.

Each of the 19th-century heritage pillars in the wool store – now known as The Dining Room – has been individually lit. Olive green booths and a walk-in 500-bottle wine room have also been added. The Argyle’s dance floor has gone, but if you look carefully, a hanging DJ booth remains.

Dining Room guests will snack on wagyu tongue skewers ($11), baby abalone schnitzel ($11) and Moreton Bay bugs ($37) from the seafood bar. If they really want to splash, there’s a $280 seafood tower or $400 wagyu tomahawk.

Outside, the courtyard has been transformed into The Garden, with Tucker and his team scouring the state on botanical buying trips. They’ve brought in mature olive trees from the Hunter Valley, 150-year-old xanthorrhoeas, and 300 shrubs and perennials. Tucker wants the al fresco restaurant to feel like a real courtyard garden. There’ll be a crab omelette to start the day and fritto misto to finish it.

The final piece of The Collective’s three-prong venue approach is its 20-seat cocktail bar. Housed in the former cloakroom, they had to change its name when they discovered the seemingly generic cloakroom moniker was already owned in Australia.

“We called it the Tailor Room instead,” Tucker said. The cocktail menu is designed like a swatch book, with different fabrics inspiring each drink.

“Hospitality precincts are having a moment in Sydney, and their appeal is only growing,” Tucker said. While it’s true Sydney is in a hospitality precinct boom, recent arrivals such as Paddys’ Hay St Market have lent more toward mid-market offerings. The Collective is a higher-end proposition.

Sommelier Hanna Lesniowski Brugnolli oversees the 1000-bin cellar, and Mael Jego has joined as The Collective’s head of bars from Melbourne’s award-winning Apollo Inn. Executive chef Mike Flood has a CV listing Quay and Firedoor in Sydney, and Gordon Ramsay’s Maze in London. The Cut Bar & Grill and Sake will also continue to operate at the site.

Tucker hopes to emulate the success of Mr Wong, which pathed the way in Sydney by rebirthing the former Tank nightclub space into an upmarket restaurant. “With The Collective, we saw a chance to do something special, breathing new life into heritage spaces that deserve to be experienced, not just admired,” he said.

Open breakfast, lunch and dinner daily

12-18 Argyle Street, The Rocks, thecollectiverocks.com.au