Super-sized Docklands rooftop pool tipped to host A-list Hollywood stars
A render showing the future rooftop pool for the 28-38 Pearl River Road, Docklands, development by Capital Alliance.
A super-sized, sky-high rooftop infinity pool headed to Melbourne’s Docklands precinct is being billed as a future haunt for Hollywood A-listers like Brad Pitt.
Its backers are also expecting to create the longest escalator in the southern hemisphere, potentially set to carry conference and event goers up to 10 storeys in one trip.
The skyscraper swimming spot will be 35m long by 8m wide, and is expected to become the nation’s biggest rooftop infinity pool.
RELATED: Amazing sky pool finished at Hawthorn Park development
Docklands Mariott hotel to have 15th floor infinity-edge pool that is open to the public
Melbourne’s plan to lure Hollywood to the CBD
It is so long it could only be created by being placed between the development’s two hotels, on the roof of a sky bridge that will host a 1000-person event and conference centre.
The hotels include Melbourne’s first purpose built Collection by TFE hotel, which will include 200 rooms, and a 105-room A by Adina hotel.
The $340m project by Melbourne developer Capital Alliance was designed by SJB Architects to take advantage of extensive view lines for a 360-degree panorama.
The development is expected to have two separate hotels linked by the sky bridge.
The 15-storey high rooftop pool zone will boast cabanas and deck chairs, with a restaurant and bar set half a storey higher so diners can look out over the water feature.
Expected to open in 2026 at 29-38 Pearl River Rd, the development is across the road from Docklands Studio — which boasts a 900,000 litre filming pool and is being gazetted as a key tool in luring Hollywood to Melbourne.
Capital Alliance chief executive Mohan Du said with the project their last of three in the precinct, the impressive hotels being planned for the site were part of their plans to “go out with a bang”.
“If Brad Pitt is filming across the road, I would be expecting him to be relaxing here before he heads across the road to work,” Mr Du said.
“We are really trying to make this as amazing as possible.”
The Marriott Docklands hotel, built by Capital Alliance, also features an infinity rooftop pool.
Those visiting the conference and event space below the pool could also be set for a wow experience with an initial escalator to bring them from ground to a fourth floor podium level, before a second built into a tunnel featuring visual art displays takes them another 10 storeys.
“I’m told it will be the longest escalator in the southern hemisphere,” Mr Du said. “That in itself will be a bit of an engineering marvel.”
SJB Architects founding director Michael Bialek said the wavy, glass facade’s inspiration was in part drawn from the Yarra River.
“We have also blurred the division between inside and outside to maximise daylight and those all-important city skyline and uninterrupted water views,” Mr Bialek said.
Mr Du said plans had been submitted about two weeks ago, but were expected to be approved within the Waterfront City development plan and for construction to begin by the second half of 2023.
The Marriott Docklands Hotel pool gives a feel for what the developers might have in mind.
It’s not his firm’s first ambitious project in the area, with Capital Alliance behind a nearby Marriott hotel and apartment complex named The Docklands with its own striking, curving rooftop infinity pool.
The impressive water feature was ranked among Victoria’s top pools in the Herald Sun’s 2020-2021 Cool Pools rankings.
Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
MORE: Hotly contested sale of 131-year-old mansion owned by Autobarn co-founder
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe’s Toorak apartment sells for around $2m
