Hotel plans revealed for Albany’s Middleton Beach as State Government finds buyer

A four-star hotel standing at least five storeys high will be built on Middleton Beach, with construction set to start within two years. At the hotel site facing Ellen Cove yesterday, Premier Mark McGowan revealed the State Government had finally secured a buyer for the “prime waterfront development”. Pacifica Developments and Ausglobal Group have teamed up to buy the 3700sqm site and build the $25-$30 million hotel. Seashells Group is set to operate the hotel, joining its apartment-style hotel accommodation in Broome, Fremantle, Mandurah, Scarborough and Yallingup. The final purchase price of the site remains confidential. The “four-star-plus hotel” would feature five to seven storeys, 80-100 rooms, and a beachfront bar and restaurant overlooking the water. It has been a frustrating wait to find a buyer for the parcel of land, located in front of the vacant site of the old Esplanade Hotel, which was built by entrepreneur Paul Terry in 1991. After Mr Terry died in a freak helicopter crash in Hawaii in 1993, it was sold to a Singaporean development company which demolished the hotel in 2007. Plans to develop a new hotel were scrapped in 2008 when the global financial crisis hit. The Barnett government stepped in to buy the old hotel site and surrounding land for more than $7m in 2014. The 1.3ha site, containing four parcels of land, became the Middleton Beach Activity Centre, flagged as the site of a new hotel and mixed residential and retail buildings. Flinders Parade was realigned between Barnett Street and Adelaide Crescent in 2017 to make way for a hotel development north-west of Three Anchors. Expressions of interest opened in 2018. In August this year, the McGowan Government pinned its hopes on the $116m Regional Land Boost program — a price reduction on publicly held land — to trigg-er offers on the new hotel site. Yesterday, Mr McGowan said after a wait of more than a decade, the future of the precinct was “very bright”. “The Government, through Development WA, has put in an enormous effort to secure a buyer and a builder here on this site so we can get a modern tourism-attracting hotel for this site,” he said. “The hotel on this site will be much welcomed. We are doing enormous work here at Middleton Beach to improve the amenity. “It is a beautiful spot and the hotel will add to that. “This is a prime development site, this will be one of the best tourism accommodation ventures in all of WA, and we are very pleased to make it happen.” The build is expected to take 12-18 months, with the City of Albany placing a two-year deadline on the construction start date. Mr McGowan said the development would create about 180 jobs in the building phase and 44 permanent jobs once in operation. An architect is expected to be appointed early next year, with a local architect already helping to guide the design of the new hotel. Albany MP Peter Watson said losing the “beautiful” Esplanade Hotel was a shock to locals and people had started to doubt that anything would happen on the beachfront. “It’s great news and I look forward to the economic benefits it will bring to Albany,” he said. Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington said the hotel would provide a “terrific boost” to Albany’s booming tourism industry. “It is a fantastic site, we don’t think you can get any better in WA, you certainly can’t get any closer to the water,” he said. Pacifica Developments director John Zendler said the hotel would be be designed to “blend in” with the environment. “One thing that we heard loud and clear was that there was almost a sense of grieving about the old Esplanade Hotel being knocked down and that the community lost a vibrant food and beverage hub,” he said. “It was where the community came together, so there will be a strong focus on that for us.” DevelopmentWA is set to begin works across the road from the hotel site with six multi-storey townhouses. Designed with Denmark architects PTX, the double purpose homes called duettes will be a first for DevelopmentWA. The buildings will have two separate entrances, with the ground-floor designed to be used as a workplace but also suitable for apartment living. The construction tender will be released in May, with building expected to begin in mid-2021 pending development approval by the City of Albany. It will be Albany’s second major hotel, with a 108-room Hilton Garden Inn under construction at Albany Waterfront Marina.