How good old Collingwood is smartening up its act
People thought property mogul Tim Gurner was crazy to build a hotel in the gritty Melbourne suburb, but maybe he’s tapped into the zeitgeist.
“Good old Collingwood forever, they know how to play
the game…”
Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m most definitely not a fan of Melbourne’s most polarising AFL club, but the team’s song is seared into my brain after a friend dragged me into enemy territory on the night of the Magpies’ grand final win last September. Collingwood’s main drag of Smith St was heaving with happy revellers belting it out. Even the trams scuttling past seemed to be dinging along to the ditty. It was a pure Melbourne moment.
The buzz seems to have hardly dissipated when I return two months later for the official opening of the 95-room Veriu Collingwood, the latest in a rapidly proliferating brand of boutique apartment hotels that have a knack for popping up in the right place at the right time. It’s the second Veriu for Melbourne, following last year’s opening of Veriu Queen Victoria Market, and joining five in Sydney. Forget “build it and they will come”. According to Veriu chief executive Zed Sanjana, the strategy is “build it where our customers want to be”. And this is an area evolving faster than the cranes can keep up.
The chosen site was best known as Studio 52, where everyone from Delta Goodrem to The Wiggles cut records, before being demolished and developed for Veriu during the pandemic by property mogul Tim Gurner, whose company Gurner Group retains ownership. Gurner says he recognised the area’s potential more than 15 years ago, back when Smith St was known as “Smack Street” due to the prevalence of drugs. “Everyone thought I was mad,” he tells guests at the rooftop ribbon cutting ceremony. “But this is where the culture is. And wealth follows culture. That’s been the evolution in every major city in the world, and that’s what I saw in Collingwood.”
A wavy black eight-level tower is set back from busy Johnston St, behind the red brick heritage facade of an 1850s steelworks. Guests enter through a textural, industrial-styled lobby of timber floors, exposed brick and navy curtains, furnished with leather chesterfield lounges and mid-century chrome-plated armchairs. Warren and Mahoney Architects designed the interiors, leaning into the area’s blue collar heritage, with more than a passing nod to Manhattan’s Meatpacking District (something of a Tim Gurner obsession).
Three categories of studio-style suites ranging from 28 to 35 sq m take the first three floors, with residential apartments occupying the levels above. I’m impressed how many home comforts can be squeezed into such relative snugness. Every suite has a full kitchen with a two-burner induction cooktop and dishwasher, along with a washing machine and drier, sure to appeal to the long-stay, corporate travel market. Superior and executive suites have a guaranteed balcony or courtyard, while executive suite guests get a bonus bathtub (audaciously located just inside the door). But really, you don’t miss out on much with the entry level option.
My superior suite is contemporary, comfortable and cleverly configured, with an elongated kitchen, coffee pod machine, petite work desk, a king bed and a rain-shower cubicle clad in black and white images of old New York. Ground level has a modern meeting room and gym, while level six is all about leisure, with a rooftop pool, hot tub and terrace lounge sprinkled with gas firepits, oodles of polished stone and plump beanbags to sink into and gaze across the skyline. Come evening, aromas from Jim’s Greek Tavern (a Collingwood stalwart since 1980) waft up from across the street. The rooftop bar is but another tease, open only for private functions.
You’ll have no trouble, though, quenching your culture thirst. Veriu backs on to Collingwood Yards, a mixed-use arts precinct that was formally Collingwood Technical College. Walk through the historic art deco entranceway into a courtyard exploding with colossal plane trees and ringed by art studios, galleries, boutiques, bookstores, bars and cafes. Flick through the stacks at Licorice Pie Records, or admire the Keith Haring pop-art mural on the wall opposite legendary live music den The Tote.
And be sure to poke your head into The Social Studio, a social enterprise selling ethically produced art, giftware, jewellery and apparel made on-site by refugees and recent migrants (the Ghanaian krobo bead bracelets made from recycled glass are particularly lovely). Runner Up Rooftop Bar offers excellent cocktails and DJ-spun tunes in a grungy garden venue.
Wandering through the precinct at lunchtime, I’m intrigued by a line of people at least 50m long snaking out into the courtyard. It turns out they’re members of a sandwich cult, waiting to buy a panini from Italian deli Stefanino Panino. The alternative is to pop into Jolly Good Diner, a New York-inspired deli and bar adjacent to the hotel lobby that also fulfils room service orders.
On a Friday evening I take a stroll along Smith St, where the energy level rivals Grand Final night. Diners spill out of the French-styled Smith St Bistrot, while the pre-dinner crowd cradle aperitivos and slices of homemade panforte outside the Mediterranean-flavoured Alimentari Goods Store. The vintage shops of nearby Gertrude St await Saturday morning shoppers and lamp posts bulge with gig posters.
It’s wonderful seeing Melbourne with its mojo back, and this smart new hotel makes good on its promise to connect customers with the local community, and a very vibrant one at that. I never thought I’d say it, but good old Collingwood forever.
In the know
Rooms at Veriu Collingwood from $270 a night, twin-share.
Ricky French was a guest of Veriu Collingwood.
