Richmond office earmarked for 148-room hotel conversion

A vacant eight storey office building in Richmond’s Swan Street precinct could be transformed into a 148 room residential hotel under a planning application currently before the City of Yarra.

The proposal seeks to repurpose the recently completed building at 236 Coppin Street, which has remained untenanted since its construction in 2023.

GALLERY

The Trustee for 236 Coppin Street Investments Trust has lodged a Section 72 amendment application through planning consultant proUrban to convert the 11,543 square metre building from office to hotel use. The shift represents a decisive pivot away from commercial office space, reflecting broader changes in inner urban property demand.

The building forms part of a site with a complex development history. It was originally included in a larger mixed use scheme by Steller Group, which entered receivership in 2019 following the breakdown of its founding partnership amid tightening construction finance conditions. Receivers McGrathNicol were appointed by financier OCP Asia, which held $97.3 million in debt exposure. While the combined Swan Street and Coppin Street sites were later subdivided, only the eight storey office component was delivered, with open plan floor plates and three basement parking levels. The building has since remained vacant, despite receiving two permit extensions, most recently in August 2024.

Under the new proposal, LIFE Architecture has designed a retrofit that focuses on adaptive reuse rather than demolition. External changes would be limited, with most works occurring internally to accommodate hotel rooms. The planning report outlines a total of 148 rooms, including 98 studio rooms, 21 superior rooms, 15 one bedroom suites, seven quadruple rooms and seven accessible studios.

Minor external modifications are proposed to improve amenity and address neighbouring conditions. These include removing mesh screening to increase natural light, installing opaque glazing to the northern facade to manage privacy impacts, and adding 1.8 metre privacy screens to balconies on levels one to three. Landscaped terraces on the upper levels would be retained.

Parking provision would be largely maintained, with 95 car spaces proposed compared to 97 previously approved, alongside 97 bicycle spaces across the basements and ground floor. The site’s proximity to public transport is a key consideration, sitting 350 metres from East Richmond Station and 50 metres from a Route 70 tram stop on Swan Street.

The hotel is proposed to operate between 7am and 10pm daily, with occupancy expected to rise from 40 per cent in the initial six months to 50 per cent thereafter. According to the planning report, the development would support tourism growth and employment diversification within the Swan Street Activity Centre, located around three kilometres east of Melbourne’s CBD.

Images via The Urban Developer