Starwood Capital's green 1 Hotel to debut in Melbourne
The world’s most sustainable hotel brand, 1 Hotel, will make its Australian debut in Melbourne in 2022 as part of developer Riverlee’s Northbank project on the Yarra.
The 280-room upmarket hotel will form the centrepiece of Riverlee’s approved $450 million Seafarers mixed-use development of the Northbank wharf site, which includes 140 apartments above the hotel and restoration and repurposing of the historic No.5 Goods Shed as a 1000-seat function centre.
The 1 Hotel brand was developed by renowned American hotelier Barry Sternlicht, the founder of Starwood Hotels (now part of Marriott International) and US$60 billion real estate fund manager Starwood Capital.
The concept, based around sustainability, the environment and wellness, kicked off in 2015 with the opening of the first 1 Hotels in Miami, followed by hotels in New York, Brooklyn and Los Angeles.
The hotels incorporate significant amounts of reclaimed and recycled materials as well as plenty of plants and other natural elements.
As an example of this ethos, 1 Hotel Central Park is home to 24,000 plants, steel entrance doors embedded with 16,000 fallen twigs with the floor of the fitness centre made from a reclaimed university basketball court.
“1 Hotels started from a simple belief: those who travel the world care about it,” Mr Sternlicht said in 2015.
1 Hotel Melbourne will also incorporate reclaimed and recycled local materials in its design. It’s part of a growing international pipeline that includes 1 Hotels under development in China, Paris, London and Mexico.
The hotel will be operated by Starwood Capital affiliate SH Hotels & Resorts under a long-term management agreement with Riverlee.
Development director David Lee, the son of Riverlee founder Clement Lee, said the family intended to retain the hotel as a generational asset. Sales of apartments will kick off later this year with construction to start in early 2020.
“We spent over a year searching for the perfect hotel partner that shared our same values and that offered something truly different, ” Mr Lee said.
“We’re thrilled to be bringing Australia’s first 1 Hotel to the banks of the Yarra River.”
Attending the launch of the hotel on Thursday was SH Hotels & Resorts president Arash Azarbarzin and Victorian trade minister Martin Pakula.
Mr Azarbarzin said Starwood had studied the Melbourne hotel market closely before selecting the Riverlee development.
‘We like going into neighbourhoods that are not 100 per cent there yet, where we can build on them to create a destination,” Mr Azarbarzin told The Australian Financial Review.
While the focus is on designing and building the Melbourne 1 Hotel, Mr Azarbarzin said Starwood was also looking at Sydney.
“We’d like to have a sister project in Sydney,” he said.
The Melbourne hotel will include a state-of-the-art wellness centre, a ground-floor, 1000-seat function centre, plus a variety of dining options and lobby bar.
Mr Lee said financing was “not an issue” for Riverlee with the developer enjoying strong support from local and offshore lenders.
