Long gone are the days of Byron Bay as a backpacker’s surf spot and hippie commune, as it continues to transform into a hotspot for digital natives, corporate creatives, and celebrities to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle in a tropical paradise. The announcement of a soon-to-be-opened luxury apartment hotel – The Bonobo by Raes – is set to cement the famous east coast town as the destination for anyone looking for a break from the capital city rat race.
Raes on Wategos is already something of an institution in Byron Bay, as one of just a handful of premium hotels and restaurants in the north East Coast with Raes Dining Room earning a hat in the Australian Good Food Guide awards earlier this week. Hosting a regular Artist In Residence, which for 2022 was painter Eytan Messiah, and featuring a popular Moroccan-inspired spa, there’s no wonder the team at Raes sees demand to expand their footprint in Byron bay.
Initially slated to come to life as The Barbotine – developed by Podia – the project, with expansive ground floor retail opportunities, captured the attention of Raes owner Antony Catalano. The project has since been rebranded to The Bonobo but retains Brisbane-based architecture firm Richards & Spence, who has previously worked on the Fortitude Valley hideaway The Calile Hotel and its thoughtfully designed The Lobby Bar. The firm has constructed a vision for a three-level hotel in the heart of the town, set to peek its head above the rest of the low-rise buildings in the area at 116-118 Jonson Street.
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Employing the complex brickwork that is a common thread running through many Richards & Spence projects, The Bonobo by Raes will contain a total of 41 hotel apartments, with a mix of two, three, and four-bedroom options for guests. Looking to integrate into its verdant tropical surroundings and juxtaposing the brutalist brickwork, the building will feature significant gardens inside, as well as lush plantlife set to cascade down the outer facade.
With apartment sizes ranging from 85-160sqm, each will feature large windows to allow volumes of natural light inside, with large kitchens and generous balconies present in all. While the rooms will be a delight to spend time in, one of the real draws of the development will be the rooftop pool for guests to enjoy a spritz in the sun, or simply as a spot to devour the novel they’d been meaning to read.
Construction is already underway for The Bonobo by Raes, with the project anticipated to reach completion by the middle of 2024.
