Twiggy Files Upscaled Plans for 150-Key Fremantle Hotel

Mining billionaire Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest has turned attention back to hotel plans for a historic Fremantle site. 

Forrest and wife Nicola’s Fiveight development company has now filed fresh plans with the City of Fremantle that build on proposals approved in 2022. 

Fiveight wants to develop the 10 Henderson Street site, once home to the Spicers building that was built in 1899 and was described as a “key example of Fremantle’s historic architectural character” but demolished in the 1970s.

The site is now a public carpark managed by Wilson Parking on behalf of Fiveight. It is accessed via William Street and connects to the Paddy Troy Mall. 

Fivieght chief executive Paige Walker said the team would “work closely with stakeholders to deliver a high-quality development” on the important site, one that “contributes to the precinct’s ongoing revitalisation”.

Lateral Planning has submitted the proposals for the site that details a six-storey, 150-key hotel with ground-level amenities and commercial uses. 

Consultation for the project is open until August 29.

Under the scheme, the rooms will be across two tower forms, with typical room areas at 24sq m for a standard room to 42sq m for a suite. 

Amenities would include a meeting and event space with alfresco seating, a 393sq m food and beverage space for guests and the public, and a pool and gym. 

▲ Rendering of the proposed Spicers hotel at Fremantle.

The site has been subject to several development applications over the years, including an unrealised office and retail proposal in 2014.

The 2834sq m site was acquired by a Fiveight entity in 2018 for $7.6 million.

In 2022, Fiveight submitted plans for a 117-room, six-storey hotel with a restaurant and bar that was approved.

The latest plans mark a significant upscale on that earlier project and have an estimated cost of $35 million.

Designed by Woods Bagot, the proposal “delivers a contemporary, contextually sensitive response that enhances the character of the surrounding heritage precinct,” according to the development application. 

If approved, it would have active frontages on all sides, including a proposed laneway dubbed Spicers Lane.

The site is within a prime tourist precinct surrounded by heritage-listed streetscapes, and is close to World Heritage-listed Fremantle Prison, the Fremantle Oval, the Fremantle markets and the historic Sail and Anchor hotel. The latter two have been a part of the neighbourhood for 120 years.

It is also 500m south-east of the Fremantle train and bus station, connecting the area to Perth and a wider transport network. 

▲ Rendering of Fiveight’s former proposal that was approved in 2022.

The coastal suburb of Fremantle on the mouth of the Swan River is 15km south-west of the Perth CBD and continues to attract significant investment and renewal projects. 

The Warders’ Cottages, associated with the Fremantle prison, have been adaptively reused for hospitality, while in the past year, a 250-bed “pod” hotel has been put forward, while a 1920s woolstore is being adaptively reused as luxury apartments.

Proposals are also being worked up to revitalise the wider area and pave the way for more than 20,000 homes in the area.  

Fiveight, meanwhile, is also working on its flagship $400-million Carillon City project in Perth that was greenlit this year.