Norwest Hotel-to-Hospital Conversion Delayed

Merc Capital’s plans to convert a 132-room hotel into a private hospital in one of Sydney’s growth hotspots have been granted a lifeline, after gathering dust for two years. 

Merc Capital is exploring a move into healthcare as part of its bid to redevelop a Norwest site, after signalling its intentions to adaptively reuse the Norwest Rydges in Sydney’s Hills Shire.

But plans stalled after initially lodging scoping reports within the state’s major projects framework in 2021. 

The Sydney developer requested an extension of currency and has been granted a further two years to August 2025 to develop its environmental impact statement and development application for the project. 

The Sydney developer lodged early scoping documents with the NSW government for a state significant development, Well-Being Private Hospital in 2021. 

According to CoreLogic, Merc Capital’s Visy Dior 2 Pty Ltd company acquired the Norwest Novotel hotel in 2017 for $27.5 million. 

In 2019 it underwent a rebranding to Rydges, at which point Merc Capital chief executive Tony Merhi said it would receive a renovation and upgrade. 

▲ The plans to adaptively reuse the site include the addition of a sixth storey to the building and a two-storey carpark.

The developer submitted plans for a four-tower $500-million masterplan for apartment towers, a hotel and commercial towers on the Rydges site in 2019, which were knocked back. The masterplan also envisioned three 42-storey towers, which required the demolition of commercial buildings at 34-46 Brookhollow Avenue at Norwest, close to the Norwest Metro station. 

The new plans for a private hospital would require the adaptive reuse of the 132-room hotel and the addition of a sixth storey, according to a PDD Planning report. 

The early concepts for the 22,790sq m site included an expansion of the ground-floor plane, the addition of a two-level carpark and pedestrian bridge, and the expansion of the gross floor area from 8510sq m to 12,024 square metres. 

“A number of options for the planning and design of the proposed hospital development have been considered,” the report said. 

“The proposed hospital development … is considered the optimum outcome in terms of reuse of existing building infrastructure on the site, provision of an efficient hospital layout and operations, and scope for future development and increased employment on the site consistent with strategic plans for growth and development at Norwest.”

▲ An artist's impression of the three mixed-use towers that Mulpha will build under the contract to develop on the Norwest Metro station.

The reconfiguration would entail a capital investment value of $43.59 million. 

The new private hospital would be about 800m from the Norwest Metro rail station, where Mulpha recently won the tender to develop three multi-level mixed-use towers on the Norwest Metro station site. The contract calls for three towers of 13 to 21 storeys on two podiums at 25-31 Brookhollow Avenue, Norwest, about 35km from downtown Sydney.

According to planners the private hospital would support employment and growth in the region and enable healthcare workers to live close to their place of work, contributing to the 30-minute city concept.