Plans for a 59-storey hotel and commercial tower in the heart of Sydney’s CBD have been submitted for approval, with Holdmark lodging a State Significant Development Application for the proposed $700 million development.

Designed by Woods Bagot, the slender skyscraper with hotel and commercial spaces will come up on Holdmark’s Bligh House site at 4-6 Bligh Street. The plans comprise a 200-room luxury hotel from levels 14 to 56, crowned by a stunning rooftop bar 200 metres above the site, in addition to eight levels of premium office space, meeting and event rooms, retail, restaurants, and bars.

Woods Bagot had won a City of Sydney design excellence competition for the site, where the refurbished office building Bligh House – acquired by Holdmark last year – is situated.

The City of Sydney director of City Planning, Development and Transport Graham Jahn says the design “displayed a masterful architectural clarity and precision”.

“The slender hotel tower and infill podium will complement the extraordinarily rich setting of superb heritage-listed buildings that surround the site,” Jahn says.

Holdmark bought Bligh House – a 17-storey office building opposite one of the two pending Sydney Metro Hunter Street Station entrances – last May with the longer-term architectural vision in place, said Holdmark chief operating officer Kevin Nassif.

“We bought the asset purely on a commercial basis because we love the location, it has great development potential, and is 100% occupied, which indicates that quality well-located buildings will stand the test of COVID and test of time,” Nassif says.

“There’s no question that Sydney is on the path to becoming a truly global city and we’re excited to be part of that,” he said. “We think there is enormous potential for tourism and that there is a long-term opportunity at the top end of the hotel market.”

Describing the building as “a new sculpture in the heart of the city”, Woods Bagot principal and project design leader Ian Lomas said, “We’re extremely proud of this design, which is the first project to take advantage of the Central Sydney Planning Strategy by the City of Sydney and allows us to get the height we’ve been able to achieve.”

“We wanted to make a strong design statement and the architectural concept has been conceived as a simple sculptural form that contrasts against an unruly and congested skyline.”

Image: Supplied

Branko Miletic

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