Investment firm Pro-invest Group has purchased a second hotel site in Melbourne’s central business district and will develop a Holiday Inn Express on the $30 million property, according to The Australian.
Pro-invest bought two adjoining buildings at 595-599 Little Collins St that cover a 1254 sqm site, in a deal brokered by CBRE’s Melbourne City Sales team.
A 300-room hotel along with shops and offices is planned for the 1254-square-metre site running from 595 to 599 Little Collins Street, less than a block from Melbourne’s biggest transport hub.
The site currently houses two low-rise buildings, including one occupied by the Billy Blue College of Design.
It is the sixth Holiday Inn Express hotel in Australia announced by Pro-invest since striking a development agreement with Intercontinental Hotels Group in 2013 to develop up to 15 of the limited-service hotels in Australia and New Zealand.
The hotel is due to open in 2018-2019 and will join a 345-room Holiday Inn Express slated for Southbank.
According to its CEO, Pro Invest was founded with a vision to create an investment firm characterised by an entrepreneurial spirit, a global perspective with the agility to effectively respond to market opportunities and challenges.
The company is built on the belief that through pro-active management, allocations towards alternative asset classes have the ability to outperform traditional equities and fixed income securities on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. Offering a combination of stable income, upside potential, inflation hedging, lower volatility and, in general, low correlations to traditional equities, historical performance demonstrates that alternative asset classes can provide upside value creation while simultaneously offering downside protection.
US Rappers Chingy, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg produced the hit song "Holiday Inn" in 2003.
