HOTEL developers bought out a rival's site in Mollison Street as they prepared for works across the road on their own project.
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They confirmed rumours they had purchased the empty site on the corner of Williamson Street on Monday, as they turned the sod on their own hotel building.
Rachel and Peter Irons of Spring Design and Development are leading a hotel build on a site covering the former Forty Winks building, Bendigo Health's old pandemic vaccination building and the historic former Butt's Hotel.
The development is expected to transform more than half the city block and will include two restaurants and a day spa.
It was originally expected to cost $30 million when first proposed in 2019 but is now likely to cost more because of inflation, rising material costs and a worker shortage likely because of competing 2026 Commonwealth Games builds.
The exact cost is still to be determined.
The Irons aimed to finish their build in time for the Games but say they want to remain flexible.
"We are excited for what the games will bring to Bendigo. We will see," Rachel said.
"The games will only go for two weeks but what it brings is a wider awareness of Bendigo."
The Irons' move to buy up the empty site across the road is a death-knell for a separate 108-room hotel bid, which would have both competed with the Irons' hotel and physically overshadowed it during some parts of the year.
They are yet to decide what to build on that land but think it should be something that could compliment the hotel and fill an unmet Bendigo need.
Construction crews began prepping the Irons' Mollison Street hotel site several weeks ago but officially turned the sod on the build at a ceremony on Monday.
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The Irons will keep the facade of the former Butt's Hotel, an historic building that fronts the corner of McLaren and Williamson Street.
The Forty Winks building on the other end of the block is among structures that will need to make way for the hotel complex.
The car park many people would have been tested for COVID-19 in during the depths of pandemic lockdowns will be incorporated into the complex's plans, which includes a large, green open space.
"We wanted to give it a resort feel and we think a garden space is very important," Rachel said.
Several existing businesses will need to move so that the new hotel can rise and the Irons said they were consulting with them.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
