‘Hopes and prayers’ for Central Market deadline as luxury hotel up for sale
A hotel central to a key Adelaide multimillion-dollar development has hit the market, as the fruit and veg mecca’s boss says he “hopes and prays” the overall transformation meets its opening deadline.
News has broken that The Treehouse Hotel – one of the key elements of the $600 million Market Square development in Adelaide – is on the hunt for a buyer.
The 248-room luxury lifestyle hotel that has been built by ICD Property in the years-long project has been officially slated for sale with McVay Real Estate and JLL Hotels & Hospitality jointly releasing the news today.
JLL Managing Director Gus Moors is spruiking the sale as a “rare opportunity” because of the hotel’s “genuinely irreplaceable location” but there is a catch, the 173-metre-tall building looming over the new Central Market project is still under construction.
While the hotel was expected to open early next year, its neighbouring expanded Central Market wing has a tighter timeline, with Adelaide Central Market Authority Chairperson Theo Maras saying “I certainly hope and pray” the new shopping precinct would be open by Christmas.
“Our biggest problem is fit-out. It’s not the building, the structure, everything else has been done, so we’re very happy with that,” Maras said.
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“I think the builders did a magnificent job by far. We expected some delays, but we got there in the end. The issue is fit-out because when you’ve got an almost 300-room hotel, 20,000 square metre offices, 11,300 square metres of retail space.
“That’s a lot of space to fit out…and it’s happening at a time when there’s a shortage of everything, and you can understand trades are short, materials are short, but I can tell you we’re having a very good run at it so we’ll see what happens.”
Maras said the project was “on time and on budget” and though he was not aware the hotel would hit the market today, “it was always going to be sold”. He said the hotel could appeal to a range of buyers, and he would support any buyer if it was “someone who’s friendly to SA and understands what Adelaide is all about”.
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Most of the new vendors heading into the new Central Market expansion are food operators, including Never Never Distilling Co, Hummus Hustle and Rohde Egg Co. Maras also teased a “well-known South Australian bookshop” would join the retail area, but food was “what the market does best”.
“There won’t be there won’t be any fashion or buckles or buttons or bangles or spangles. It’ll be the world’s number three market continuing to do what it does best, and what it does best is sell food, and we’ll be the biggest market in the southern hemisphere,” Maras said.
The property on the market now is the first Treehouse-branded hotel in Australia – The Treehouse brand is owned by SH Hotels & Resorts and has businesses in London, Manchester and Silicon Valley. The brand was chosen by ICD Property after a competitive tender from operators in 2023.
The hotel neighbours a commercial office tower that topped out at about 56 metres tall in October, and has already leased more than half of its 22,731 square metre space to tenants, including the state government and Thomson Geer Lawyers.
The Treehouse Hotel plans reveal an all-day dining restaurant and bar, meeting and event facilities, a gym and about 3000 square metres of green space.
The Market Square development is expected to contribute $135 million to the South Australian economy, according to JLL.
While McVay Real Estate Managing Director Sam McVay claimed “Adelaide is genuinely one of the most compelling Australian investment stories right now”.
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