Newcastle heritage gem the Great Northern Hotel is due to reopen on November 1, in time for the Melbourne Cup and the city’s Supercars weekend.
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Work started this week on fitting out the ground-floor bar in the latest attempt to revive the art deco hotel, which has been beset by legal battles, closures and building issues dating back to before the 1989 earthquake.
“The site was a hive of activity,” development manager and former owner Kurt Braune said on Tuesday after handing over the keys to new publican Ben McBeath.
“With Ben’s team of builders and contractors getting stuck into the refurbishment, it’s a bittersweet moment for me, but it’s time to hand over to the next operator and start a new chapter in the hotel’s story.
“I’ve had so many great memories in the heyday of running the pub, but now it’s so exciting to be part of the revitalisation of Newcastle.”
Mr Braune, who is handling the hotel’s refurbishment on behalf of Sydney-based developer Bass Elhashem, plans to focus on completing the entire $20 million development, which includes 88 rooms in the 80-year-old hotel and 21 serviced apartments in a modern annex next door.
He hopes to have council approval to start work on the rest of the building next week but said light rail construction in Scott Street would probably delay the project for at least a month.
The plan includes a rooftop bar on the hotel, a rooftop pool on the annex and reviving the plush first-floor lounge popular in the 1980s.
An ambitious proposal to build a cantilevered pool over Scott Street was scuppered this year by heritage concerns.
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Mr Braune said the owners were negotiating with an international chain to operate the hotel as a boutique, five-star operation.
Mr McBeath, who runs The ArtHouse Hotel restaurant in Sydney’s CBD, said he had “great expectations” of the Newcastle venture.
“Our timing could not be better, and once the accommodation rooms come on line this venue will be one of the best food, beverage and accommodation facilities in the country,” he said.
The hotel, which opened in 1938, is listed by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage as an item of state significance.
It says the building has “one of the few intact examples of a ‘jazz-style’ interior”, although its exterior has been compromised by 1950 additions.
The Newcastle Herald reported late last year that Mr Braune hoped to open the ground floor by Easter this year, but the light rail project and other issues have delayed construction.
