Marriott hotel set to arrive

Capital Alliance looks set to build a Marriott hotel half the height of the originally proposed building at Harbour Town with the City of Melbourne’s support.

The Docklands-based development company submitted a second application to the Planning Minister to build a five-star Marriott hotel at the edge of Harbour Town Shopping Centre.

Its first application, which proposed a 37-storey residential hotel with 260 apartments and a 200-room Marriott hotel, was knocked back by Planning Minister Richard Wynne in March 2016.

The preferred building height at Harbour Town is 45m.

After challenging the minister’s decision at VCAT and receiving VCAT’s confirmation that the high-rise development would not be allowed at the small site, Capital Alliance lodged the amended application in April.

In the new application, Capital Alliance proposes to build a 17-storey tower with 200 hotels rooms and 110 apartments at 3-43 Waterfront Way.

The new proposal features a curved building designed by DKO Architecture to mitigate wind and shadowing impacts as well as greenery on the eastern side of the building and on the podium level.

At the Future Melbourne Committee meeting on July 18, this application received unanimous backing from City of Melbourne councillors.

“This will be a real drawcard and get people to Docklands,” Cr Nicholas Reece said.

“It’s a great step forward in the evolution of Docklands.”

If approved by the Planning Minister, the $96.1m project will become the first Marriot International hotel in Australia in 20 years, joining the newly-opened Four Points by Sheraton in NewQuay.

Capital Alliance also developed Docklands’ first five-star hotel, Peppers Hotel, on LaTrobe St in 2016.