Gurner buys St Kilda's Cushion Lounge, lodges plans for first Club Maison project
The Melbourne-based property developer GURNERTM has secured St Kilda's well known Cushion Lounge and has lodged $35 million plans to create what will be the first in a series of new concept hotels under the Club Maison brand.
Club Maison will provide ultra-luxury boutique short and long-stay accomodation.
Gurner, who paid $2.25 million for the 99 Fitzroy Street building, has had the Sydney HQ'd Warren and Mahoney Architects draw up plans for the first concept hotel, with 25 rooms across six levels. There will be hotel facilities such as a swimming pool and outdoor dining space.
From Fitzroy Street, where there will be a commercial space facing the street, it will look like the building has just three levels.
The design takes its cues from the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana in Rome and Mondadori building in Milan, with huge arched windows lining the façade, while exposed concrete, brick and steel in repeating curvilinear forms pay homage to Fitzroy Street’s iconic buildings including The George, Brooklawn Mansion and the neighbouring St Kilda terrace homes.
GURNERTM founder and director, Tim Gurner said the Club Maison concept would become an exciting way forward for our brand, carving out a niche in an asset class that is not strictly residential.
“When you look at the successful business model of Soho House in London and New York, we want to take a similar approach and apply it at a local scale.
“Our Club Maison buildings will offer discerning Australians a private club experience with long and short term stays, private and public amenity and a very big focus on world-class hospitality offerings.
“These projects will become long-term investments for us as we look to strategically hold more assets across our portfolio into the future,” he said.
The developer confirmed it had adopted an aggressive acquisition mindset throughout 2020 and plans to acquire 12 to 15 sites of varying scale across the country within the coming 12 to 18 months.
“We are aggressively looking for further sites as the business continues to diversify and grow,” said Gurner.
The site is located just metres from the developer’s first landmark St Kilda project, Saint Moritz, which secured a record penthouse sale last year.
“Saint Moritz really re-invigorated my love for St Kilda – we are excited about the opportunities here and I believe St Kilda is really just at the beginning of a once-in-a- generation transformation."