Iris has put out its $65 million proposal for the redevelopment of four adjacent Potts Point sites, between the iconic The Bourbon and the Empire Hotel.
Piccadilly Hotel Operations Trust P/L, connected to Iris Capital, has worked through an extensive design process with the City of Sydney Council, plus a design competition, and is now at a point where the winning design is ready to be assessed.
“We feel that we’ve put forward a response to the community and to what Council deemed to be an appropriate fit for that site,” Iris principle Sam Arnaout told PubTIC.
The $65,444,808 proposal will see demolition of all structures bar three facades, between 18-32 Darlinghurst Rd. These include the front of The Bourbon building, built in the 1880s, the Lowestoft site, from the 1890s, and the Commodore apartment block, built 1928.
The two pubs would both be part of the new structure, although reportedly smaller than the existing spaces, according to the plans. The Bourbon proposal would see 22 tables on the terrace and footpath, and gaming room with 30 machines.
Around the pubs will come a mixed-use development incorporating structures of five, six and seven storeys, housing 54 residential apartments, 59 hotel rooms and a lobby, a medical centre and multiple retail lots. The four basement levels will provide 80 car spaces.
Late 2017 Iris submitted a development proposing 83 apartments, over 100 car spaces, bars and retail stores, but it was withdrawn the following April after community backlash to the removal of the vintage façades.
The community response prompted CoS Council to list part of both pubs as local heritage items.
Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects won Iris’ design competition for the project, which will now see most of the heritage facades stay.
As per the new controls, the Empire Hotel can be redeveloped if the new design has ‘architecturally reinterpreted’ the history of the site; originally designed by Neville Gruzman, it was famously home to the bawdy Les Girls cabaret nightclub. The plan for the new Empire now includes a curved ground floor awning and interpretative artwork addressing seminal Darlinghurst Road.
Iris claims a strong history of preserving heritage where appropriate, not adverse to incorporating existing elements, or in the case of Potts Point, working in with popular demand.
“We’re not too proud to say if we need to revisit,” adds Arnaout. “The response is a calibration between us and City of Sydney, through a public workshop and a very comprehensive design competition involving six architects, and the integration of the heritage items.”
The proposed development has had its Stage 1 DA approved and is on public exhibition until October 20. Iris is hopeful of a result on the application in the next six months and a favourable outcome would see construction start immediately following approval.
In the aftermath of years of economic headwinds to Kings Cross, the city of Sydney and most recently the entire industry, the Bourbon Empire is in line with the kind of large-scale projects being earmarked by government for post-pandemic recovery.
“I think it’s a significant project that has material public ground floor activations, which will be a direct improvement for both Potts Point and Kings Cross as a whole.”
