The current number of rooms in the nine hotels and serviced apartments in the Parramatta-Rosehill area is 1315, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS); three multi-million projects will boost the number by approximately 500 rooms.
Parramatta City Council has approved a Meriton Apartments development application for serviced apartments in a 22-storey tower – one of two in its mixed-use development on the former David Jones site, in Church Street.
Meriton now seeks to increase this tower to 31 storeys bringing the total number of serviced apartments to 250. Council’s proposed Aspire 90-storey mixed-use development, as part of its Parramatta Square (formerly Civic Place) project, includes 150 serviced apartments.
The latest project to come before Parramatta City Council is for a $20.4 million addition to the Parkroyal Parramatta, the long-established and first international-standard hotel in the CBD.
The application is for a nine-storey building to be constructed on the pick-up/set down space between the current entrance and the Phillip Street footpath, and cover the width of the property.
The proposed project includes 90 rooms, the creation of a new outdoor deck off the Lobby Bar at ground level, the creation of an executive club lounge on level 7, 114 square metres of additional floor area for meeting rooms, 110 square metres of additional floor area for restaurants, 231 square metres of additional floor area for the hotels function rooms and a gymnasium.
The project does not include any work on the current 12-storey, 196-room building. The proposal will be determined by the Sydney West Joint Regional Planning Panel.
This will be the first major investment in the hotel since it opened its doors a quarter of a century ago. In recent years smaller projects in Phillip Street and Argyle Street have been proposed with no sign yet of being realised.
Outside the CBD at Westmead a 15-storey mixed-use building, including visitor accommodation is proposed opposite the train station catering to visitors to hospital patients and those associated with the health and medical research precinct.
Looking to the future, the five-year strategic plan, 2013-2018, of the Parramatta Leagues Club includes a $60 million hotel on the corner of Eel's Place and O'Connell Street, opposite the club.
The Australian Turf Club has long-term plans for a major project, along the Rosehill Gardens Racecourse’s frontage to James Ruse Drive, which includes a hotel.
