Veriu Hotels has kicked off a five-year plan to add 500 new hotel rooms to Melbourne, announcing today its first two Veriu-branded properties in Victoria will be positioned at the Queen Victoria Market in the CBD and the inner-city fringe suburb of Collingwood.
Details of the new hotel are vague at this point however the new hotel will be a newbuild due to open in 2022 and will form part of PDG Corporation’s renewal and redevelopment of the historic trading hub. The overall project will see the addition of an underground car park, childcare and family services along with upmarket retail and a small number of residences.
Over in Collingwood, more detail on this proposed hotel is due to be released soon, however it’s understood this hotel will offer 95 rooms.
Veriu’s expansion into Melbourne comes following the acquisition by the company last year of the Punthill Apartment Group. Since then, the company has added two new Punthill properties due to open in coming years in Cayden and Alphington. Back in Sydney, Veriu will open its newest hotel in Green Square later this year.
The latest announcement comes after Veriu placed its Sydney Central property on the market. Veriu CEO Zed Sanjana says the sale of this property will provide it with the capital to carry out the expansion of the brand into 10 new inner-city markets in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Two additional location in Sydney are in the works for Veriu at 323 George Street and in Chippendale, near Central Station. In Melbourne, expansion plans are more aggressive, with sites identified in Carlton, Prahran, Richmond, Windsor, South Yarra, South Melbourne and the CBD in the company’s crosshairs.
“We have taken the opportunity to partner with top tier developers like Charter Hall and PDG Corporation to help to expand our network across the Australian market,”Sanjana said.
“We see wonderful opportunities in the market currently to become a key amenity component to larger mixed-use developments like Queen Victoria Market, which brings much needed community infrastructure and facilities to the neighbourhood.”