A five-star hotel scheme would rise in the carpark of a Mexican-themed pub and motel under a scheme filed for Sydney’s south-west.
Plans have been filed by Parras Hospitality Group with the Liverpool City Council for an eight-storey hotel on the “underutilised” carpark of the motel at Liverpool.
The 1.33ha site at 6 Homepride Avenue, Warwick Farm, is home to the ageing 51-room El Toro Motor Inn Hotel and Mexican-style pub El Topo Cantina.
The site was sold in 2015 for $24 million by the Lantern Hotel Group to a private family, and acquired in 2023 for a reported $70 million by Sydney-based Parras, which is now moving ahead with plans to redevelop the wider site.
Parras wants to keep the existing El Toro Motor Inn and develop the 126-key hotel, dubbed The Grand Hotel, on the southern carpark.
The Mosca Pserras Architects-designed project plans, which do not require a change of use from hotel/motel, seeks to “augment” the existing hotel use by expanding and intensifying said use.
Alongside three levels of basement parking, The Grand Hotel would have multiple levels of building podium for the hotel lobby, meeting rooms, restaurants and three ballrooms, as well as an outdoor pool and deck area, gym, spa and storage.
The hotel rooms of 31.8sq m to 41.8sq m would occupy levels two to six,
The site is 115m from the Liverpool City Centre, 14km from the Parramatta CBD and 26km from the Sydney CBD.
It is almost equidistant to Bankstown Airport, Sydney Airport and the new Western Sydney Airport—all are within 20 to 30 minutes of the Liverpool site.
The proposal “capitalises on its accessibility to the new Western Sydney Aerotropolis and relationship with the Liverpool City Centre”, according to the development application from SJB Planning.
It argues that the proposal has “significant positive social and economic impacts … in terms of local investment, retail and visitor demand, support for infrastructure, and employment generation.”
Parras Hospitality Group venues include The Royal at Paddington, The Toxteth at Glebe, Humphrey’s at Hurstville, and Minskys Hotel at Cremorne.
While hotel development and investment has been strained in recent years, forecasts heralded a return to full recovery by the end of 2025.
Sydney hotels recorded a 77.4 per cent occupancy in May this year, according to CoStar, up more than 6 per cent, and a 3.4 per cent rise in average daily rates to $250.79.
Developments including the Western Sydney airport expansion are “enhancing Australia’s air connectivity and global reach”, according to agents CBRE.
