Malaysian developer to transform Pyrmont apartments into boutique hotel

The 60-room hotel is being developed at 131-133 Murray St, opposite the Novotel, with smaller-than-normal hotel rooms but larger living areas — following the trend in other major capital cities such as London, Amsterdam, Berlin and New York where land prices are prohibitive.

Tan bought the existing 16-dwelling serviced apartment building in 2016 and won Land and Environment Court approval to redevelop the nine-­storey property into 62 hotel suites. The estimated construction cost was $6.578 million, with the works including the removal of a driveway and facade upgrade, according to City of Sydney documents.

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The Cititel X will be the first such property in Australia, joining a network in the Malaysian centres of Penang, Ipoh and Kota Kinabalu. Cititel X general manager Klaus Kinateder said the hotel had been designed to fill a vacuum in the Sydney accommodation market.

“Previous co-living projects have been developed out of former student accommodation and don’t offer the quality or facilities that international travellers — especially business travellers — are seeking,” Kinateder says.

The property is perfectly positioned at Pyrmont.

“We’ve designed the hotel to meet the fastest-growing sector of the travel market.

“Cititel X is not about massive rooms or services that travellers don’t really want. What we are offering is a ‘home away from home’ style guest experience at great-value rates.”

“There won’t be lengthy check-in and check-out processes because effectively once a guest arrives, just about every service in the hotel is included in their rate.”

The hotel will deliver a co-­living experience that has become popular in Europe. Instead of guests staying in their rooms, they can share living areas that make them feel at home.

The Cititel X is expected to open next February.

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.