Hunter Valley Bowls Club Plots Six-Storey Hotel

Plans have been filed to add a six-storey hotel to a NSW coastal town’s bowls club.

Under the plans lodged with the Port Stephens Council, the Raymond Terrace Bowling Club would also undergo a major renovation.

The Raymond Terrace Bowling Club Cooperative submitted the plans, which have now been referred to the Hunter & Central Coast Regional Planning Panel.

The cooperative proposes the construction of the 50-room hotel including five serviced apartments, for the 1.2ha site at 2 Jacaranda Avenue and 1 Swan Street, which has been a bowls club since the 1940s.

Raymond Terrace is 26km north of Newcastle.

The proposal also comprises ground-floor facilities including a restaurant, bar, swimming pool, gym, and function and office spaces. 

Designed by EJE Architecture, the development is,“based on new urban principles, [and] aims to be a catalyst for activation along Port Stephens and Swan Street, as well as the local township of Raymond Terrace,” according to the group.

The site currently consists of a single-storey building, three bowling greens and a car park.

If approved, the project, with an estimated building cost of  $38.6 million,  would be completed over three stages. 

Bowls clubs across the country have attracted major investment due in large part to their primse locations in community hubs and tourist areas. 

The abandoned Pacific Paradise bowls club on the Sunshine Coast was tipped for a major redevelopment last year, while a Sydney bowls club is fighting to develop its site into an 18-storey senior living development. 

The Port Stephens area, 2½ hours north of Sydney, is a major tourist destination with tourism generating in excess of $335 million for the economy per annum.