To make sure that you're on top of all the new developments and newsworthy chats happening around Sydney, we've wrapped up this week's top city news right here.
Shark Beach Has Finally Reopened In Time For Summer Swims
Image credit: The Nielsen | Website
Vaucluse's Shark Beach and Nielsen Park have been sorely missed since they were closed for construction in 2022. What was flagged to take less than a year took almost three, with the sheltered shoreline missed especially on summer days.
As of Thursday 12 December, both Shark Beach and Nielsen Park are open, including the charming Nielsen Park Kiosk. The kiosk's revamped menu offers brekkie from 7am (with the likes of avo toast with macadamia pesto, or banoffee French toast on the menu), a dine-in menu offering small plates, salads, mains and pizzas and refreshing cocktails, and a takeaway offering including the requisite fish and chips.
The New Sydney Metro Victoria Cross Station Brings Beloved Eateries To North Sydney
Image credit: Victoria Cross | Supplied
The Sydenham–Chatswood Sydney Metro City line is now open, with North Sydney’s Victoria Cross Station welcoming 15 new dining outlets including fresh locations for beloved Sydney venues including Mary’s, Marrickville Pork Roll (who make some of the best banh mi in Sydney) and Dopa Donburi.
Other names among the first wave of openings are Top Impressions Bakery, Torotoro Ramen Bar, Doo Dee Thai, and a coffee cart by Two Good Co, with 50% of proceeds reinvested into their social impact programs. A further seven retailers will open in 2025, coinciding with the full completion of the Victoria Cross tower next year.
Additional tenants at Victoria Cross Station include McDonald’s, Nails Avenue, florist Rose & Co, plus a further seven retailers (including a One Playground fitness facility with a plunge pool, infrared saunas and motion studio) coming in 2025. The openings join the recently launched Walker Street dining precinct (home to Sol Bread and Wine, Soluna, Genzo, and providore Una) and flashy bar and grill Poetica in the rapid transformation of North Sydney’s dining scene.
A 25hours Hotel Will Open In Sydney Next Year With A Rooftop Bar And A Restaurant
Image credit: Central Element | Website
25hours is another boutique hotel brand to set its sights on Sydney. Taking on the former West Olympia Theatre building on the corner of Oxford Street and South Dowling Street in Paddington, the luxury hotel scheduled to open early 2025 will feature 109 rooms and suites, a rooftop bar, a restaurant, a ground-floor cafe, live music space, and a central courtyard lined with greenery.
This iconic Sydney building has a colourful past: it was first a brewery, before becoming a cinema, then a nightclub. Most recently it was home to Don Peppino's, before the crew opened Fontana in Redfern. Behind the build and restoration of the gorgeous Paddington site is Central Element (CE) and joint venture partner Boston Global Group.
25hours has 12 hotels scattered throughout Europe's coolest cities, and they're typically design-forward, playful hotels, laced with cool details and local collabs. In Dubai, there's a 5000-book library fountain with a rotating globe showcasing works by local artists. The Vienna property is circus-themed. While there aren't too many details on the Sydney hotel yet, we're excited to see the 25hours brand come to life here.
Luna Park Steps Into The Future With A Major New $15 Million Immersive Attraction
Originally opened in 1935, Luna Park delivers old-school Art Deco amusement park nostalgia in spades. This year, however, the iconic Big Top has transformed into a souped-up 21st-century spectacle, complete with holograms, motion-activated LED screens, and state-of-the-art light and sound tech.
Sydney’s new Immersive Big Top now features 360-degree visual and audio immersion with an activated surface area of more than 3,500 square metres. Perhaps Sydney's answer to Las Vegas' viral Sphere venue, the new Big Top will be the new home for wild immersive experiences, never-before-seen live music performances, and other one-of-a-kind events.
“As a world-class amusement park, we need to be more than rides, and expanding our depth of offering through world-class immersive experiences will mean that Sydneysiders won’t have to travel the globe to experience these incredible environments," said Luna Park CEO John Hughes in a statement. "We want to be a reliable, magical, and affordable destination for all generations of Sydneysiders and visitors to our city."
The first spectacle to show within the new Big Top will be Dream Circus, a locally created immersive and sensory experience that will combine the venue's impressive technology with stagecraft, loveable characters, magic, and good old-fashioned storytelling.
Dream Circus tickets are available here.
A Stunning 26-Storey Boutique Hotel Is Planned For Sydney—With Australia's First Glass Floor "Vertigo Suite"
Image credit: ICON Developments | Supplied
From Capella Sydney to the W Hotel and smaller boutique offerings like Hotel Morris and Oxford House, Sydney's hotel scene is evolving at pace. The latest hotel announcement comes via ICON Developments and Icon Oceania, who have revealed stunning plans for a 23-storey, $265 million boutique hotel in the Sydney CBD.
The property is a reimagining of the heritage-listed RCA House on Kent Street, once the home of Universal Studios in Sydney. The yet-to-be-named hotel will feature 229 rooms, a rooftop bar, and an infinity pool with views over Darling Harbour. With interiors by local design legends SJB and Golden Age of Hollywood aesthetic, probably the most intriguing feature will be the hotel's "Vertigo Suite"—the very first of its kind in Australia. The suite gets its name from its fully transparent glass floor.
The property is slated to begin construction in 2024, pending planning approval. The hotel would then look to open in 2026.
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A $2 Billion Performing Arts Precinct Proposed To Revamp The Domain Car Park
Image credit: City of Sydney | Supplied
Sydney is showing no signs of slowing down on development with recent news of a massive revamp proposed for The Domain that’ll transform the current (and, let’s face it, pretty underutilised) car park into a world-class arts precinct.
Proposed by global architect firm Grimshaw Architects, the proposed development features four new performance spaces on the existing site of The Domain car park. The biggest space would be a 2500-seat state-of-the-art theatre. Also in the designs is a dance theatre with an estimated 800-person capacity; "The Academy" intended as a rehearsal and teaching space; and Sydney's first and only dedicated First Nations performance space.
"We tried to look at other places to put it in the city and the simple answer is it doesn't fit," Grimshaw Architects Director of Strategic Communications Bradford Gorman told Urban List.
"There is [also] no lyric theatre in Sydney. The theatres that exist to host large productions are located in casinos. And notably, which is really shocking, we don't have a centre for Indigenous performance in Sydney. They've talked about putting [one] in Barangaroo in The Cutaway, which in our opinion is not progressive thinking because it literally puts Aboriginal facilities underground," says Gorman. "We believe First Nations performance should have its own facility."
And while the proposed cultural precinct would mean losing the playing fields atop the current car park site, Grimshaw has drafted up increased green space by transferring it to in front of the Art Gallery of the NSW, as well as landscaping on the roofs of the proposed buildings.
Also part of the proposal are designs set to revitalise and invigorate the wider Woolloomooloo and East Sydney area with a snazzy new 24-hour entertainment and hospitality precinct as well as an upgrade and expansion of social and affordable housing.
"East Sydney has sort of deteriorated. The public housing is not fit for purpose, and you've got a community which is right in the midst of Sydney and yet hasn't been brought along with [the rest] of Sydney's development," says Gorman. "We believe the community deserves to have the facilities for social housing upgraded and expanded to provide more social housing solutions."
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Image credit: The Nielsen | Website