Chris Lucas Reveals Plan to Develop, Manage Own Hotels

Restaurant mogul Chris Lucas has announced he is not only moving into the hotel sector but will develop and operate the assets. Lucas made the surprise announcement at The Urban Developer ’s Hotel Summit in Melbourne today (Thursday, March 27). Best known for his restaurants Society, Kisume, Chin Chin, Grill Americano and, most recently, Maison Batard, Lucas said the move made sense. “It’s a natural extension—doing hospitality is hospitality,” Lucas told the event. “So, whether you are serving food or you are providing accommodation, to me, it’s the same thing. “I’ve always wanted to expand into that area and create a hotel that reflects the hospitality experience first and then brings the hotel element into it.” Nightclub in mix He told The Urban Developer that two buildings on one particular site were bought late last year within Melbourne but he would not confirm locations, purchase prices or project costs. Lucas said he planned to create a 50-room hotel offering within the two buildings with a mix of three food-and-beverage spaces and potentially a nightclub. “We ’ ll do contemporary, we ’ ll do some new, interesting stuff,” said Lucas ( pictured top with Borne founder Avalon Nethery at last year’s Urbanity conference ). “We ’ ll mix it up a bit. “We might do a little bit of Asian, maybe European, different bars, different concepts, different nightclubs maybe.” He said that preliminary work had started on the site. Lucas said it made sense to be the asset operator rather than bring in one. “We ’ re going to operate it ourselves,” Lucas said. ▲ Chris Lucas during The Urban Developer’s Hotel Summit in Melbourne. “We have already got reservation systems and so forth set up anyway—and call centres. We don ’ t want to give it to an operator—we wanted to run this system. “We want it to reflect our culture and our experience.” Lucas said it was a natural progression for Lucas Restaurants. “We are already evolving the business into these different areas—for us, it ’ s a natural evolution.” Rebrand coming Part of that evolution process is a complete rebranding, Lucas revealed. “The reason why we ’ re doing that is we ’ re moving away from calling ourselves a restaurant business or a restaurant group to a broader definition of what we think we are, which is really a collective group of like-minded people who are involved in a whole series of different spaces, lifestyle, design, development, urban renewal projects,” Lucas said. “So we get involved now in these spaces because we own property ourselves. “Effectively, we ’ re a developer as well as a hospitality business.” Lucas Restaurants will become Lucas Collective and Lucas is keen to tap into the small boutique market. “There ’ s hardly really a hotel in Australia, I think, that has a successful food and beverage project or product that has lasted longer than a few years ... that ’ s sustainable and successful, that ’ s a drawcard, that ’ s a destination product,” Lucas said. ▲ Part of the audience at The Urban Developer Hotel Summit held in Melbourne on March 27. “But in Europe, you see that. In the US, you see that. In Asia, of course, you see that because people are used to that. “So for us, we see that as a huge space. “In Europe and in the US, you ’ re seeing that part of the market really exploding.” ‘Three years arguing’ His most recent restaurant, Maison Batard, in Melbourne, opened in November. “That project took six years to get off the ground, three years arguing with Heritage Victoria,” Lucas said. “But I was determined to push that project through because of its historic value—it was Melbourne ’ s first restaurant site.” That restaurant on the site at the top of Bourke Street was opened in 1915. It was later the home of The Society Restaurant, which was operated by the Condognotto family between 1932 and 2017. “So I basically bought three buildings, kept the historic facade ... the internals and rebuilt a new building from the ground up with a French cabaret space downstairs, two levels of restaurant and then a beautiful rooftop garden,” Lucas said. “It ’ s got two open spaces and a series of internal spaces.” Overseas hotspots The restaurateur said what people wanted from their hospitality experience had changed and that Maison Batard reflected that. “It ’ s resetting the bar in terms of how people see hospitality,” Lucas said. “Hospitality is changing dramatically around the world. “You just need to go to St Tropez or Ibiza, or any one of these hotspots and you can see the hotels that have been created, the entertainment spaces, the beach clubs—they ’ re completely transformational and they involve different players from all sorts of sectors that previously have not been collaborators.” ▲ Chris Lucas’s Maison Batard on Melbourne’s Bourke Street. Lucas is not just looking elsewhere for inspiration but also for possible expansion. He has plans to open a Grill Americano in Sydney after establishing Carlotta in Canberra, but is looking even further afield to locations including Dubai ,where he hopes to talk to potential partners. And Geelong Stadium has been a surprise venture for Lucas, where he has struck a deal has been struck to create a Chin Chin with 280 seats. “We went into a licensing agreement where we assisted with the design and development of the concept and helped them operate it—we do it on a license fee basis,” Lucas said. “It ’ s a short-term project—we want to see how it works in a stadium, see if good food and having a DJ at night and opening to the public during the week, rather than just game day, works. “And actually, it ’ s been phenomenally successful.” He said people now wanted something more personal and small-scale in hospitality and hotels. “It ’ s about creating different destination experiences but still making it feel quite cozy and intimate—I think that ’ s the key,” Lucas said. Lucas said he hoped to open the hotel in about two years and although it would be just 50 rooms, the size did not matter. “I love luxury,” he said. “If you are going to do small, you’ve gotta do luxury.”

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Hotel & HospitalityMarisa WikramanayakeThu 27 Mar 25

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