Following an impressive transformation of Adina Sydney Town Hall, TFE Hotels is now undertaking a multi-million-dollar refurbishment of its Adina Darling Harbour property, with the same designer, Bates Smart.
The Darling Harbour Adina opened a quarter-century ago, in time for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with a late 1990s design.
If the results for Adina Town Hall are anything to go by – micenet attended the hotel’s Open House event in August – the transformation of Adina Darling Harbour is an exciting prospect.
“Whilst Adina Town Hall had a very residential overlay, which was more akin to a city apartment, the narrative for Adina Darling Harbour is about soft tranquil harbour colours, organic forms and a harbour side connection that can be seen in fabrics, artworks and paint colours,” said Bates Smart’s interior design director, Brenton Smith, who is leading the redesign.
“This casual relaxed approach has also been extended into public areas including the reception, pool area, meeting rooms and onsite restaurant and bar.
“It very much references a day out on the boat and a relaxed Sydney harbour side vacation,” said Smith of the restaurant and bar’s redesign.
With its renovation closure, Adina Darling Harbour is donating furniture and fixtures from the hotel to ReLove, which passes the furniture on to those in need.
The reimagined property is set to open mid-2026.
“Today, Darling Harbour has transformed into one of Sydney’s most vibrant lifestyle precincts, offering guests proximity to Barangaroo, Town Hall…ICC [Sydney], iconic Sydney attractions and events,” said TFE Hotels’ group chief operating officer, Chris Sedgwick.
“Likewise, this large-scale refurbishment marks a significant repositioning of the hotel and reflects our forward-thinking vision for the Adina brand and for the wider precinct.”
The redesign of Adina Town Hall, as seen by micenet, is stunning, yielding bright, cleanly designed, beautiful rooms, good use of space – a special nod to the built-in corner sofas in smaller rooms – and bathrooms that are both stylish and functional, especially for longer stays.
“We took a view that good design and good hotel accommodation for us…was really this idea of sophistication and simplicity and elegance,” said Smith at the Open House event for Adina Town Hall in August.
He also said they thought about how the rooms would stand the test of time over the coming decades during the design process.
The Adina Town Hall redesign is being used as the new standard for the redevelopment of what TFE calls “first generation” Adina properties, with several others slated for transformation in Melbourne, Darwin and Adelaide, as well as Frankfurt in Germany.
Adina Darling Harbour is well located for events at ICC Sydney as well as venues like the recently opened ILLUMINA in Martin Place.
