Decade-long plans for a Hilton hotel in Fremantle have been scuttled, with a residential apartment complex now expected to rise at a sought-after CBD development site.
SKS group is selling the Point Street carpark site 10 years on from the $10 million deal it struck with the City of Fremantle to deliver a seven-storey, four-star DoubleTree by Hilton.
The new site owner is a recently registered company known as Point Street Partners, which lists Leonie Baldock, the granddaughter of of mining magnate Peter Wright, as its director.
Sirona Urban, which was responsible for the $270 million Kings Square development — including the Walylup Civic Centre and FOMO building — is set to transform the carpark site into Fremantle’s next inner city living hub.
“We’ve got a long history in Fremantle and a particularly good relationship with the City, so I think there’s a desire on both our parts to see us do more things down in Fremantle,” Sirona Urban managing director Matthew McNeilly said.
“If I go back 10 years, a big part of my urban renewal strategy for Fremantle was to initially deliver a sort of a commercial office outcome … and I think the second big box was to deliver a retail outcome in King Square, which is FOMO.
“But there was always a third leg to what we wanted to do.”
Mr McNeilly said he always envisioned the east end of Fremantle to be a “wonderful place for people to live”.
“I’m a great lover of Freo and I…
