Quest is taking a fresh approach to growth by integrating its hotels into shopping centres in emerging suburbs. The first venue will be at the Watergardens Town Centre in Melbourne’s north-west.
Chief operations officer David Mansfield said the new strategy helps improve amenity for its customers. “For more than 30 years we’ve seen the main streets of Australian suburbs transform into major retail commercial and community centres and mixed-use developments like Watergardens deliver even more services to the community,” he said.
The accommodation will be part of a mixed-used development model led by QIC which houses retail and commercial planning under one banner. The hotel is one of several new Quest Apartment hotels developed under the community style living model, providing guests with retail and dining options at their doorstep.
Quest Watergardens will house 86 apartments across five levels with studio, one and two-bedroom apartments in the mix. The apartment hotel is designed to provide community-style living with conference facilities, car parking and modern light-filled apartments with fully equipped kitchens and laundry facilities.
The hotel builds on a number of initiatives currently underway at Watergardens including the $60 million food and dining precinct, The Marketplace and a number of other projects in the pipeline.
Watergardens centre manager Joe Galea said “Melbourne’s north-west is experiencing unprecedented growth and as the area’s most significant social and retail hub, we are very pleased to be able to continue to evolve Watergardens in a way that provides access to new and modern amenities for this growing community.
“Alongside Quest, we have determined a construction management plan that responsibly delivers this new hotel and short-term accommodation offer in a manner that will minimise the impact to our community and retail partners, and we will work closely with those that may be affected throughout the process, as appropriate” he said.
“Construction works will commence shortly, and while it is still too early to confirm specific timings, we expect to be able to open Quest at Watergardens in mid-2021.”
Quest Watergardens is one of 12 new properties launching across Australia and New Zealand over the next two years. Upcoming properties include Ballarat Station (VIC), Wangaratta (VIC), Robina (QLD), Preston (VIC), Perth Ascot (WA), Palmerston North (NZ), on Cambridge, Christchurch (NZ), Hasting (NZ), Quest Mount Maunganui (NZ), Takapuna, Auckland (NZ) and Remarkables Park, Queenstown (NZ).