Veriu to convert student housing to boutique hotel in Kings Cross

They are now looking to convert their second Furnished Property building, “Jack’s Place” on Elizabeth Bay Road, close to Kings Cross, into the “Montpellier Hotel”, after lodging plans with the City of Sydney.

The hotel will have 34 rooms including suites and penthouses down from the original 40 student rooms, a rooftop recreation space, a late-night basement restaurant and a bar on the ground floor, in keeping with the Veriu model, which thrives on being located in popular spots with a focus on round-the-clock co-mingling hotel spaces.

The company will also add two floors to the current building.

Veriu will convert its student rooms into hotels in locations where there is competing high-end student accommodation, director Alex Thorpe said.

“We will decide property to property. Student accommodation is so professionalised these days, going up against the likes of Urbanest and others,” Mr Thorpe said.

“These days it is hard to get students to share bathrooms. People love to share a kitchen but they don’t want to socialise in a bathroom block.”

Furnished Property rooms typically have shared bathrooms.

This is the second conversion for Veriu after the 110-room Veriu Central at 822 George Street in Sydney, which opened in January. It was a $4 million overhaul of the heritage-listed building located between Central Station and University of Technology Sydney and comes with co-working spaces.

The group now has four running hotels as well as the conversion of Jack’s Place and Veriu Green Square which is a brand-new hotel under construction. The 142-room Veriu Green Square is a 50-50 joint venture with Sydney-based fund manager Folkestone.