Sydney businessman Jerry Schwartz will revert to “Plan A” and build a high-rise hotel in Wharf Road after planning authorities rejected his proposal for student accommodation.
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The Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel, which assesses projects regarded as regionally significant, knocked back his nine-storey boarding house.
But Mr Schrwartz has a valid 2016 approval in place for a $28 million hotel on the site, across the road from his Rydges Newcastle hotel, and said he would proceed with that development.
In refusing the newer plan, the panel said the building did not meet design standards, did not provide required setbacks beside a neighbouring apartment block to the west, and had inadequate communal areas for student housing.
The panel also said the development had too much parking, given its proposed use and location.
It said the student boarding house was essentially the same as the hotel in form and layout, yet the needs of students were different.
Newcastle City Council had recommended the project be approved, but the panel said the developer had declined to submit revised plans to address its concerns.
Mr Schwartz, a hotel magnate who also owns the Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley and hopes to start seaplane joy flights from Newcastle harbour this month, said he was surprised the plan had been rejected.
“The irony is I’ve got a current, approved DA for a larger building,” he said. “The rules and objections have changed since the DA was approved for the hotel.
“The bad news is no student accommodation; the good news is there’ll be a new hotel in Newcastle.
“I’ve got to do something with my land. I have 14 other hotels, so I don’t suppose I can complain about having a 15th hotel.”
Mr Schwartz also completed the $3.5 million purchase of Newcastle Post Office in December and plans to convert it into a function centre and wedding shops with an Aboriginal cultural area in the basement.
His revived proposal for a 3.5- to 4-star hotel next to Argyle House in Wharf Road is one of seven hotels in various stages of planning and construction in inner Newcastle, including the new Holiday Inn Express in King Street, which is advertising that it will open to guests on March 28.
Doma’s Little National at Honeysuckle, Syrian tycoon Ghassan Aboud’s Kingsley in the council “Roundhouse” building, Iris Capital’s former David Jones building in the mall, the Great Northern and 32 serviced apartments in Darby Street are also on the drawing board.
If all of these are built, they will expand the stock of hotel rooms in central Newcastle by more than 750.
“My belief has always been that Newcastle is an expanding city,” Mr Schwartz said.
“I think certainly the time is right because there are more tourists and there are more functions and conventions being held in Newcastle.
“I’m quite happy because I get to build another hotel, but I think it’s disadvantageous to the city.
“It just makes it that much harder for students to accommodate themselves while they’re going to university.
“I tried my best.”
Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
