Rooftop celebration: TP Dynamics COO Jordan Wind, TP Dynamics founder Tony Pan, Chief Minister Andrew Barr, Crystalbrook founder Ghassan Aboud and Crystalbrook Collection CEO Geoff York.
Acclaimed Canberra Japanese restaurant Raku will be the anchor tenant of the city’s newest 5-star hotel when it opens early next year.
Construction of the 10-storey, 225-room Crystalbrook Aurora hotel on Garema Place has reached a significant milestone, reaching its highest point and moving into a new phase of façade installation and detailed interior fit-out, in collaboration with multi-disciplinary design practice FK.
A wattle tree representing resilience was lifted onto the rooftop to mark the achievement.
TP Dynamics Tony Pan announced the Raku partnership with Crystalbrook at a topping-out ceremony on the roof of the new curved building.
“The new Raku venue will be three times the size of its current location and will deliver a multi-sensory dining experience that I personally cannot wait to try,” he said.
The new 300-seat Raku venue will feature an extra-long sushi bar, a dedicated tasting bar, a stylish main bar and four private dining rooms.
Raku owner and executive chef Hao Chen said the new venue represented a natural next chapter for the restaurant.
“This move is about growth – not just for Raku, but for what Canberra dining can become,” he said.
“Crystalbrook Aurora gives us the opportunity to expand the experience while staying true to the spirit and craftsmanship that has defined Raku from the start.”
Canberra institution Gus’ Place will also join the hotel.
At its full height, the Crystalbrook Aurora building looking from Bunda Street. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Mr Pan said the building was ahead of schedule and should be completed by the end of the year.
He said the crew had added a floor every three weeks, noting that in March last year, he had been on site at the bottom of the basement.
There had been several design changes, including extending the basement from two levels to 4.5 to increase the parking to 70 spaces.
The rooftop pool was moved to a more climate-friendly indoor facility on level 8, to be replaced by another premium restaurant offering with panoramic views of the city.
The hotel will also include 11 large suites, alongside wellness facilities and conferencing and event spaces.
The wellness precinct will include Crystalbrook’s signature Eléme Day Spa, a plunge pool, a swimming pool, a sauna, and a fully equipped gym.
Five dedicated conferencing and event spaces, including a venue capable of hosting up to 300 guests, will position Crystalbrook Aurora as a premium hub for business events, celebrations and cultural gatherings in the capital.
Crystalbrook Collection CEO Geoff York, no stranger to Canberra having previously managed the Park Royal/Crowne Plaza hotel, said the conference offering would help mitigate seasonal fluctuations in visitor numbers.
“We intentionally put in the conference space here,” he said.
“We really see that as an important part of the business for the hotel.”
He said the hotel would employ 150 staff, which Crystalbrook hoped to recruit locally, and produce for the restaurants would be sourced within a three-hour radius.
It was expected that most guests would, at first, be domestic visitors, but with the group’s overseas connections and several hotels in North Queensland catering for mostly international travellers, that would likely change.
Mr York said Crystalbrook had already started working with VisitCanberra to promote the national capital and had approached overseas tour companies.
“We have great relationships now with all the tour companies in the UK, in North America, across Europe, through Asia, including mainland China, and we’re already talking to them about this hotel,” he said.
“And the hope would be that they consider, if they’re not already, putting Canberra on their tours.”
Mr York said Garema Place was a cracking location for an accommodation business, and the hotel would contribute to the renewal underway around it.
Crystalbrook will also soon be announcing a significant retail tenant moving into space on the ground floor.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the topping out was a significant milestone for a project that had been long in the making.
“This hotel will be a real anchor and focal point for this part of Canberra,” he said.
“It’s a fantastic investment, not only in our city’s tourism and hospitality industry, but in the renewal of the CBD.”
City Renewal Authority CEO Craig Gillman said the hotel would be a game-changer for the city centre.
“Having a destination hotel in the heart of our city, a 5-star destination hotel, will bring tourists, it’ll bring energy, it’ll be a wonderful place for the people of Canberra to go to your favourite restaurant, Raku, as it reimagines itself,” he said.
