Mulpha launches $100m refresh at InterCon Sydney
Malaysian property powerhouse Mulpha will plough $100 million into a revamp of the InterContinental Sydney after planning approval was granted for the landmark hotel’s most extensive upgrade in the last three decades.
The InterCon is one of a trio of hospitality assets Mulpha holds, including the Sanctuary Cove resort and the InterContinental Hayman Island Resort in Queensland. The Malaysian investor is also steadily developing out its Norwest Business Park in Sydney.
With preliminary building work already underway at the historical property, the revamp comes at a good point in the cycle as the hospitality sector recovers from the pandemic shutdowns, according to Mulpha Australia chief executive Greg Shaw.
“For us it’s a very opportunistic time to undertake a major redevelopment of the property. We’ll be spending in the order of $100 million,” he told The Australian Financial Review.
“The Intercontinental has always traded very strongly in the Sydney market. This presents an opportunity for us to use 2021 to undertake a very comprehensive refurbishment of the property and re-present the hotel as a very high-end, five-star product in 2022 when we expect the market to be through a strong recovery phase.”
The revamp will preserve the hotel’s heritage elements including the original facade elements of the NSW Treasury Building dating back to 1851.
It has been designed by New York architectural firm Rockwell Group along with local architects Woods Bagot. Construction, underway already, is being undertaken by Built and is due to be in early 2022. The hotel will remain open throughout most of the works.
The internal upgrade will include all 500-plus guest rooms and corridors, as well as refurbishment of the ground level including the Macquarie Street entry.
A new public bar will be established within the heritage central court along with another new bar in the level 32 Club InterContinental lounge. The all-day restaurant will be refreshed along with the gym and pool.
“We think by mid next year most of the key market segments will be back to more normalised trading,” Mr Shaw said.
Mr Shaw and his team are already seeing signs of the recovery at Hayman Island, where Mulpha invested $150 million in full refurbishment following the ravages of Cyclone Debbie in 2017. Vindicating that investment, Mr Shaw noted, the luxury holiday destination took out a gong for best resort at an industry awards night last week.
“For us the timing is excellent because we’re seeing a very strong rebound in domestic tourism now the borders are open.
“We expect it will be a very strong trading period for Hayman throughout 2021,” he said.
“Intercontinental Sydney will see a more gradual recovery through the first half but we would expect in the second half of next year most of our key market segments will be coming back strongly.”
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