Golden Age to offload ‘Paris end’ Sheraton Hotel

Developer Golden Age has put the Sheraton Hotel Melbourne on the block for up to $140 million as it looks to reshuffle its holdings after buying another major site in the city.

Golden Age, owned by Chinese-born Jeff Xu, last month snapped up an adjacent site in Melbourne’s Spring Street from private developer Grocon for about $75m.

The Sheraton is considered a prize of the city’s hotel market and sits at the “Paris end” of Little Collins Street, near the city’s celebrated laneways that house top shops, restaurants and the city’s main theatres.

It has 174 rooms and also features an indoor heated pool, a fitness centre, a day spa and 660 square metres of function space.

The hotel is part of a larger 32-storey mixed use development that also houses 142 residential apartments, and a further 44 luxury residences and penthouses on the top six floors of the tower. JLL’s Mark Durran is handling the hotel sale.

Golden Age’s purchase of the adjacent site from Grocon could allow it to undertake a new $300m mixed-use hotel and apartment project and was seen as a mark of its confidence in the city’s unit market even as lenders and regulators take a more cautious stance.

Golden Age managing director Mr. Xu said: “We’re very pleased to be offering this exciting opportunity to purchase one of Melbourne’s most prestigious and contemporary hotels,” he said.

The Sheraton was the group’s first major project and was developed on the old Naval and Military Club sites.