Oval Hotel set to open in September 2020

Article posted by Coliseum, April 30^th, 2020

Image: Cox Architecture

Adelaide Oval will manage on its own a 138-room premium boutique hotel presently under construction around its eastern façade, and the opening date has been scheduled for September 2020 in time for cricket and summer events.

Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city center and North Adelaide.

The premium boutique hotel will simply be known as Oval Hotel and has been so designed to embrace the venue’s existing structure. A collection of renderings unveiled recently demonstrated how rooms will be generous in size, with a calming grey color scheme and brightly lit through floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the parklands in and around.

Rooms and public facilities will be designed to display South Australia’s food and wine scene, with General Manager Bodelle Francis saying the hotel’s look reflected its distinctive offering.

“We have chosen a name that is simple and strong and that we believe will establish Oval Hotel as a travel destination for South Australia and for Australia. Adelaide Oval is a world-famous stadium nestled inside nationally heritage-listed park lands, where the view looking out is just as inspiring as the view looking in,” Francis added.

Commenting on the progress of the project, South Australian Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Stephan Knoll, advised, “The Adelaide Oval Hotel will help cement the Oval as a world-class stadium and improve South Australia’s tourism offerings.”

Knoll further said, “The Stadium Management Authority is building a team of talented people to run and manage the hotel. Bodelle Francis has been appointed Adelaide Oval Hotel’s General Manager and brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to the role.”

The hotel will sit on two elevated pods that follow the external curves of the eastern façade of the venue so as not to encroach on the adjacent parklands or the plaza.

Minimizing the impact of construction on patrons will remain a priority throughout the build and the schedule has been specifically designed to achieve this priority.

The coronavirus cases in Australia to date stands at 6,731 and the death count – 84.

Quarantine base

Adelaide Oval’s new hotel could be offered to the visiting Indian cricket team as a potential quarantine center during its upcoming tour of Australia, which is still shrouded in uncertainty due to the rapidly-spreading COVID-19 pandemic world over.

The India cricket team is scheduled to tour Australia from October 2020 to January 2021 to play four Tests, three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches.

As per media reports, South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) chief Keith Bradshaw has reached out to Cricket Australia boss Kevin Roberts to offer the new USD 42 million hotel for use by Virat Kohli’s side if it is allowed into the country.

“Kangaroo Island and Rottnest Island have also been mooted as potential self-isolation sites for a visiting team,” the report said.

With Australia sealing its borders and putting restrictions on travel to arrest the spread of the dreaded disease, cricket authorities are trying to find ways to manage health and safety of the visiting teams if the series goes ahead as planned.

The 14-day mandatory isolation for visitors can create problems for the Indian team which needs to maintain conditioning to stay in form.

However, the 138-room Oval Hotel, which is expected to open in September this year, would enable “the world No.1 Test nation to train in first-class cricket facilities at the adjacent nets as well and give them access to suitable dining and nutrition options”.

The T20 World Cup, scheduled to start on October 18 in Australia, is already under threat due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed over 2 lakh people globally. The cancellation of the Tests against India could cost Cricket Australia potentially up to USD 300 million in lost TV revenue.

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