Golden Age Secures Ace Hotel in Surry Hills

US lifestyle brand ACE Hotel will make its first foray into Australia in collaboration with Melbourne based developer Golden Age.

The Australian expansion marks a first for the ‘trendy’ US Hotel chain, with plans to open in 2021, at 49–53 Wentworth Avenue in Surry Hills.

Golden Age Group announced Ace Hotel will form part of its Surry Hills project with the 18-storey 264-room hotel to be built around Tyne House, the existing ten-storey federation warehouse.

Golden Age lodged plans for a hotel on the Surry Hills site in mid 2018, having purchased the property from Sydney identity and developer Michael Teplitsky in January last year.

The Central Sydney Planning Panel approved the Wentworth Avenue project in December.

The new Ace Hotel marks the developer's first Sydney hotel project, with Golden Age Founder Jeff Xu describing it as a “lifestyle-driven hotel”.

“Traditional 5-star hotels are finding it hard to compete with lifestyle-driven hotels which place a greater emphasis on experience, culture and art,” Xu said.

“Cities abroad have been faster to adopt this new trend but Australia is still a young market, and there's a demand for it.”

US based Ace Hotel, established in 1999, has locations including New York, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, as well as London Shoreditch and Kyoto, Japan which opens next year.

“It’s a project that aligns with our Pacific roots,” Ace Hotel Group Partner Kelly Sawdon said.

“And love of food, art, architecture, design... [things] rich in abundance in our new Surry Hills neighbourhood.”

In Melbourne, Golden Age has plans for the city’s second Chinatown in Box Hill as part of its mixed-use Sky Village development. The project comprises two 18-storey towers with 429 apartments located at 517-521 Station Street.

Earlier this year Golden Age Group, along with partner Starwood Capital, walked away from a $600 million residential project at Melbourne’s 85 Spring Street.

Golden Age had secured the Spring Street site in January 2017 from private developer Grocon for $75 million.