The King Street Hotel plans to expand into a neighbouring building housing a pizza store and a brothel.
The popular inner-city nightclub is closed indefinitely due to coronavirus restrictions but has applied to City of Newcastle to change the approved use of the adjoining Domino's outlet and upstairs brothel to a hotel.
Planning documents lodged with the council show the change-of-use approval will allow the building to be absorbed into the King Street Hotel, which is already Newcastle's largest nightclub.
The council approved in June an internal fit-out of the neighbouring building to establish a first-floor cocktail lounge. The proposed ground floor would include a "Rock Bar" and a separate "public bar".
Property records show Newcastle hotelier and long-time King Street licensee Russell Richardson bought the neighbouring property for $325,000 in February 2019.
Mr Richardson applied in February to Liquor & Gaming NSW for a "function on other premises authorisation" licence to cover the new building.
Liquor & Gaming is considering that application.
The development application to the council says the patron capacity of the venue is 153 people upstairs and 352 downstairs, though it is not clear on whether this is the capacity of the existing club or the merged property.
The King Street Hotel was among 12 NSW watering holes on Liquor & Gaming's violent venues list for the period from July 2017 to June 2018 after recording 13 violent assaults.
It fell off the list in the following 12-month reporting period after the number of violent assaults fell to eight.
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