The Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda is undergoing a major renovation as leaseholder Australian Venue Co invests in a rooftop bar and internal reconfiguration of the Fitzroy Street pub. The refurbishment follows the freehold's acquisition by Grant Cohen, one of the heirs to the Godfreys vacuum cleaner fortune, who paid $28.85 million for the property — a significant discount to the $45 million paid by the previous owner, Jackalope hotel operator Louis Li, in 2015. The Cohen family also owns the Block Arcade in Melbourne's CBD and the Esplanade Hotel around the corner, which their company acquired for $64 million in late 2022.