Stamford Land Corporation (SLC) is set to drop $1.4 billion on its Stamford Hotel empire in Australia which could see its Circular Quay and Brisbane properties redeveloped into luxury apartments.
The company has set aside about $780 million for the redevelopment of Stamford Plaza Brisbane and Sir Stamford at Circular Quay and about $70 million to enhance Stamford Grand Adelaide and/or Stamford Plaza Melbourne, according to an investor update.
The remaining funds will be used for “other opportunistic real estate acquisitions”, worth about $640 million.
The Singaporean company said it estimates the project will take about six years.
Last year SLC announced plans to offload much of its Australian portfolio, however, its most recent announcement suggests a change of plan.
SLC has previously considered turning over its Brisbane hotel to a residential or commercial project and floated plans for a $400 million rebuild of Sir Stamford at Circular Quay into luxury apartments.
In March 2020, the brand temporarily closed the doors of many of its Australian and New Zealand properties due to a severe downturn in business amid the initial COVID-19 outbreak.
CEO Ow Yew Heng revealed in an update the closure of five of the hospitality company’s properties from 31 March: Stamford Plaza Melbourne, Stamford Plaza Brisbane, Stamford Plaza Adelaide, Stamford Grand Adelaide, and Stamford Plaza Auckland.
Yew Heng said Stamford was in support of Australia and New Zealand’s imposed travel restrictions; however, he noted these have “significantly” impacted the company.
“Given the current government restrictions on travel and hospitality in Australia and New Zealand, and to support the health and wellbeing of our guests, hotel colleagues and the wider community, we have made the very difficult decision to temporarily close some hotels from 31 March 2020, until such time as restrictions are lifted and our business can resume as normal,” he said.
Travel Weekly has contacted SLC for more information.
