Merivale’s $1.5 billion The Ivy redevelopment in Sydney and Tomasetti House project in Melbourne may have stalled, but CEO Justin Hemmes remains positive about the company’s growth plans for 2024.

Hemmes told the The Australian he had pressed pause on his The Ivy redevelopment. When asked by the publication if he was proceeding with the development, he said “not at this stage”, but he did not elaborate further.

In a 2022 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald Hemmes said The Ivy was “always bought as a development site, and the building that we put there was always a holding site”.

“The time is right to do a redevelopment that speaks to George Street and reimagines how people work, connect and socialise in the city,” he said.

“We have to create amazing spaces in the city to encourage people back into the city. We have to reimagine how they work, what a workplace looks like, and blur the lines between the workplace and social space and the public space.”

Merivale’s Tomasetti House redevelopment in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, has also been shuttered for months, with News Corp reporting the site was locked up when it visited and no work was going on, despite a planned opening in 2024.

“It is understood there has been no work on the site since late last year,” Newscorp reported.

Merivale paid an estimated $37 million on the historic Tomasetti House site in 2021 and sources told Newscorp that the company had already spent $10 million on remedial works, “with that bill to hit up to $15 million to bring the building up to the modern safety code”.

“A restaurant renovation was likely to cost at least another $40 million, bringing the total bill close to $100 million,” Newscorp said.

According to company documents for Hemmes Trading Pty Ltd sited by Newscorp, the restaurant business lost more than $9 million last year.

Merivale settles underpayment class action

Merivale also recently reached the without-admission settlement in response to allegations that it underpaid as many as 14,000 employees $129 million by relying on a decade-old WorkChoices agreement that paid below the industry award.

A spokeswoman for Merivale said: “Merivale strongly denies these allegations and continues to do so.

“In agreeing to the settlement, the parties (and Merivale) sought to end the class action on a commercial basis and avoid the further time and costs of litigation, noting that the class action had already been on foot since December 2019.”

Hemmes ‘excited for 2024’

Despite the roadblocks at The Ivy and Tomasetti House, Hemmes told The Australian that it was a big year ahead for his empire.

“Without sounding boring, I have more in the pipeline than I have ever had,” he said. “I am more excited about hospitality and development this year than I have ever been.”

Last week, Hemmes came in at no.97 on Australia’s Richest 250 of 2024 list, with a fortune of $1.52billion (up from $1.40billion in 2023).

The Australian said: “Hemmes has about $3 billion of real estate in his portfolio, comprising more than 80 pubs, restaurants and other venues that dominate Sydney, as well as a significant presence in rural NSW towns such as Narooma and Byron Bay. The business, named for the House of Merivale fashion and property business started by his mother Merivale and late father John, has also pushed into Victoria in recent years, opening in coastal Lorne and soon to arrive in Melbourne’s laneways. Hemmes is also still mulling over plans to redevelop his hugely successful Ivy precinct in Sydney’s CBD, where he has considered building a tower on top of the building.”

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