Welcoming a different kind of inmate, Adina Apartment Hotel Pentridge Melbourne officially opened on 1 May 2023 – 26 years after HM Prison Pentridge closed its doors – within the new billion-dollar Pentridge dining and entertainment precinct.
It’s far from incarceration for guests at the 106-room Adina Hotel with the Olivine wine bar, North & Common restaurant, Chapter Place events venue and The Interlude wellness retreat on site.
The redevelopment of the 170-year-old site is one of the largest bluestone restoration projects ever undertaken in Australia and one of just 40 prison hotel conversions worldwide.
From jail to hotel
The unique centrepiece of the redevelopment is The Interlude, the world’s first urban wellness retreat in a converted prison.
TFE Hotels Regional General Manager for Victoria Stephen Moore said new product offerings, such as Olivine and The Interlude, focused on bespoke experiences to encourage return visits to Coburg in Melbourne’s creative north.
Adina Apartment Hotel Pentridge Melbourne General Manager Jesse Kornoff said the hotel, Olivine wine bar and the eight Chapter Place events spaces has been well received by locals and travellersalike.
“We’ve had people staying because they’re genuinely interested in seeing what’s been hiding behind the bluestone walls,” he said.
“Others were simply attracted to the sheer convenience of our brand-new hotel, located halfway between Melbourne’s CBD and the airport.”
The official launch followed a private event last week where Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Bill Nicholson conducted a Welcome to Country and ceremonial cleansing of the heritage-listed Pentridge site.
“This land was traditionally a gathering place and source of water, plants and animals for the Wurundjeri people,” Mr Moore said.
“So, it was fitting that Uncle Bill conducted a Welcome to Country and spiritual cleansing of a place that had a lot of sad and negative energy in its former life as a prison.
“In our eyes, the transformation of Pentridge has now come full circle and can officially begin a new chapter as Melbourne’s newest dining and entertainment precinct.”
Sydney’s first Collection by TFE Hotels will join the Surry Hills Village dining and shopping precinct development, opening in 2024.
For more info, head to adinahotels.com
