St Vincent’s Hospital buys Darlinghurst’s Green Park Hotel
A 127 year old Darlinghust pub will be converted into a mental health-based community service facility after being purchased by St Vincent’s Hospital which abuts it to the east and south.
The Green Park Hotel at 360 Victoria Street will close as a drinking and gambling venue on December 20.
Solotel, which owned the property for three decades, is reported to have directly approached the hospital which holds a substantial amalgamation spreading (two blocks) to Oxford St.
The Trustees of St Vincent’s Hospital, with financial backing from the state government’s Towards Zero Suicides project, intends to repurpose the two storey brick Federation at the south east corner of Liverpool St into an alcohol-free support clinic.
The complex will offer patient care but still be open-to-the-public with spaces for a training and a community mental and urban services hub, studio for St V’s TV and as a base for the St Vincent’s Curran Foundation Arts Health Program.
Its purchase price has been speculated at more than $5 million but some have put it at up to twice that.
Green Park Hotel is the second inner-city historic pub to trade to a service provider in a month – at Melbourne’s Carlton, Fitzroy Community School acquired the c1884 Dan O’Connell following a public marketing campaign targeting hotel occupiers and developers.
Last week Moelis Australia Hotel Management paid $22m for Darlinghurst’s Courthouse Hotel (story continues below).
stvincents@greenpark will be mindful of heritage, legacy: St Vincent’s
The hospital’s Health Network chief executive officer, Professor Anthony Schembri said 360 Victoria St was built when the area was predominantly working class.
“In recent years it has become regarded as a highly inclusive watering hole, especially for our LBGTI community,” he added. “We are therefore mindful that the site has long held a special place in the hearts of may Darlinghurst locals and we will ensure we preserve the building and acknowledge its historic legacy”.
“St Vincent’s looks forward to growing our community-based and outreach services as well as housing our innovation and arts program at the new stvincent’s@greenpark”.
Solotel director Elliot Solomon said the family has “loved every minute of our time in welcoming the Darlinghurst community to Green Park” and “we wish St Vincent’s all the best as it continues to deliver care and supports the Darlinghurst community into the future”.
Colleague Justine Baker, chief executive officer, added “the support we’ve received over the years from our much-loved guests, the…community and the Green Park family has meant the world to us” and “to each and every one of you, we say thank for making the Greeny all that it is”.
