Syrian billionaire Ghassan Aboud has hinted his investment interest in Newcastle is not yet over.
Sauntering the floors of the city’s Crystalbrook Kingsley for the first time since he purchased the former council administration building in 2019 for $15.5 million, Mr Aboud said another hotel site has since caught his eye.
Little more than one year since it welcomed its first guests into the King Street address, Mr Aboud and his wife Nahed Nebhan and daughter Jude Aboud, were in the city to appreciate the 136-room, 5-star accommodation first-hand.
It comes after COVID kept the UAE resident away from his Australian investments for the past three years.
Flanked by the hotel’s project architect Barney Collins, Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes and Crystalbrook Collection CEO Geoff York, Mr Aboud sang praises for a construction he described as “fantastic”.
“What I see,” he said.
“It’s really over my expectations.
“I tried my best to give a nice gift to the community of Newcastle and also [for it] to be related with the culture of this great city, I hope they like it.”
The redevelopment of the building once known as the Roundhouse (among others) is the result of the Ghassan Aboud Group (GAG) founder needing a high-quality bed for the night.
On a visit to the former steel city more than five years ago, he felt it lacked accommodation for visiting businesspeople of a certain calibre.
And thus began the Newcastle edition of the Crystalbrook Collection, a group of hotels owned by GAG including the Crystalbrook Riley in Cairns, Crystalbrook Albion in Sydney, Crystalbrook Bailey in Brisbane, Crystalbrook Flynn in Cairns, and Byron Bay’s Crystalbrook Byron.
But, now, he has his sights on another project.
“I think today I am also studying to make a new opportunity in Newcastle,” Mr Aboud said.
“I think there is now one discussion running.
“Maybe we will get an extra one hotel quite nearby. Let me see how it will look like.”
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