Crystalbrook Sydney Harbour

Crystalbrook Collection is converting the Rydges Sydney Harbour hotel in The Rocks into Crystalbrook Sydney Harbour, its first Sydney property, after buying the 176-room hotel for around AUD 100 million in 2022. The relaunch, planned for late 2027, is the latest identity for the 1920s Harrington's Buildings, previously known as Old Sydney Park Royal, Old Sydney Holiday Inn and Rydges.

The place

The hotel occupies a 1,825-square-metre island site with a 55-metre frontage on George Street in The Rocks, Sydney's oldest harbourside precinct, close to Circular Quay, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It spans two connected buildings — an eight-storey heritage block and a six-storey 1980s addition — built around the Harrington's Buildings, dating to the 1920s.

The concept

Ghassan Aboud Group's Crystalbrook Collection bought the hotel — most recently trading as Rydges Sydney Harbour — for around AUD 100 million in 2022, and plans to relaunch it as Crystalbrook Sydney Harbour by late 2027, its first Crystalbrook in Sydney after outposts in Cairns, Newcastle and Byron Bay. The building has changed hands and flags repeatedly since the 1920s — Old Sydney Park Royal, Old Sydney Holiday Inn, then Rydges since 2019 — and continues trading as Rydges while the relaunch is prepared, making this a locally-owned takeover of an internationally-flagged hotel rather than a new build.

Dining & wellness

The relaunch is planned around a rooftop pool and bar with Harbour Bridge and Opera House views, new dining and drinking venues, and the building's existing central atrium. Specific outlets have not yet been announced.