Hotel Sophia is back on the market with circa $30m expectations after almost 150 years of change on the Melbourne CBD site.
A Melbourne pub dating back to 1878 is now a seven-storey, 97-room hotel chasing circa $30m.
Hotel Sophia, on the corner of King and Little Lonsdale streets, has returned to market with vacant possession through HTL Property.
And its next owner may not even keep it as a hotel.
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Potential future uses being flagged for the approximately 452sq m CBD site include student accommodation, co-living, a hostel or an upscale boutique hotel.
The latest campaign adds another chapter to a property history stretching back almost 150 years.
Government planning records show the original two-storey brick hotel at 277-287 King St was built in 1878.
It has since been built upwards in stages.
Planning records from 2014 show another two storeys had already been added above the original building, while a further three-storey addition was then under construction.
The seven-level Hotel Sophia is being offered with vacant possession, giving a future owner scope to rethink how the CBD building is used.
The result is the seven-level Hotel Sophia standing there today, with 97 guestrooms on the relatively compact CBD landholding.
The Golden Age Bar operates at ground level, while the hotel also has conference and events facilities.
It is not the property’s first tilt at the $30m mark.
Hotel Sophia was previously taken to market in 2023, when price expectations were reported at more than $30m.
About three years later, it has returned with expectations again around $30m.
HTL Property managing director of hotel capital markets Mark Durran said the building could be repositioned rather than simply continuing in its existing form.
The Golden Age Bar remains at ground level, while the historic King St property above it has grown substantially over generations.
Hotel Sophia now contains 97 guestrooms, after successive additions transformed what began as a two-storey building dating to 1878.
He identified a boutique hotel, hostel, student accommodation and co-living among the possibilities for a future owner.
The property’s Capital City zoning also leaves open longer-term redevelopment options.
Its western CBD position puts it near Southern Cross Station and Marvel Stadium, with Crown and the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre also nearby.
HTL Property Victoria director George Iliopulos said the corner landholding and zoning added to the site’s longer-term redevelopment or repositioning potential.
Expressions of interest close at 4pm on November 12 unless the property sells beforehand.
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