Cinematic History Inspires Paddington Hotel Expansion

Plans to add a live music venue to a $33.2-million hotel development have been filed as Central Element puts the DA-approved project up for sale.

The application now with the City of Sydney is to redevelop part of the 25hours Paddington site into an entertainment facility. 

Development consent for a six-storey, 109-room hotel at 1 to 11 Oxford Street in Sydney’s inner east was initially granted to developer Central Element and partner Boston Global Group in 2020. The developer acquired the site in 2018. 

The project is now under construction, adaptively reusing the venue, which was built in 1911, into an upscale, boutique hotel with a restaurant and rooftop bar, conference spaces and lower floor retailers.

But now Central Element wants to sell the project upon completion as it continues its strategy of offloading its hotel developments to focus on high-end residential.

“We are proud of what we have achieved with this project, launching Ennismore’s upscale lifestyle brand 25hours in Australia and CE’s first lifestyle precinct,” Central Element head of lifestyle precincts Dean LaVigne said. 

“The hotel has really been the catalyst for Oxford Street’s reimagining as a premier hospitality and lifestyle destination.

“Nearby development including the proposed SOHO House around the corner on Crown Street and the recently approved redevelopment of the adjacent Verona Cinema site will add to the area’s high-street appeal.”

▲ The site will be Australia’s first 25hours hotel, an Ennismore brand in the Accor portfolio.

The developer is also asking for minor modifications to internal layout approved under the original development application to augment its project.

Central Element wants to fit out and use the basement level as an entertainment facility with a capacity for 200 people. 

The hotel will use the area for a range of uses including live music, events, performances and a cinema, according to the development application.

The Central Element/Boston Global Group partnership said it was committed to the successful delivery of the “remarkable” project and that it would act as a key driver of the development of Sydney’s Oxford Street area. 

▲ In 2023, Sydney reached record revenue per available room levels at $247, with strong occupancy rates of 79 per cent.

An expressions-of-interest campaign is being managed by JLL. The hotel is slated to open early next year.

The building was initially a picture hall known as West’s Olympia Theatre.

Since the early 20th century, it has been used as offices for the Greek Orthodox Church before becoming a series of entertainment venues, including cinemas.

It ended its career in film when the Academy Twin Theatre on the site closed in 2011.

In 2014 ir reopend as the New Olympia, a temporary live theatre venue.

Central Element is also offloading its DA-approved Minerva Theatre site after winning consent for a $70-million hotel conversion for the Potts Point theatre.