It's not finished yet, but work is on track for a December completion for Tamworth's $12 million motel development at Scully Park, in West Tamworth.
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The West Entertainment Group's project for the old football field next to its leagues club, is rapidly raising a colourful new architectural face to the landscape and skyline.
The three-storey complex which will have 52-room motel as the centrepiece of the redevelopment on the oval is expected to be finished before the end of the year. Wests CEO Rod Laing is confident the building plan will meet targets for completion, handover and fit-out.
"We're on track; lucky for us we had that long dry spell earlier in the year that put us ahead so despite the wet weather we've had lately I'm still confident that the end of December will see us open," Laing said.
"The builders are targeting early November for handover to us and the fittings go in from then."
The new hotel will be part of the Mercure hotel network owned by the Accor group, an international hotel group which already has one Tamworth motel in its portfolio, the ibis Styles on the Ebsworth corner of the Oxley and New England highways, and boasts others in regional capitals.
Mr Laing said rooms were expected to go on sale from Accor around September but pre-sale bookings there were already close to a sellout for the country music festival in January. The motel is rated a 4.5 star venue and sits between the existing club and new premier Scully Park football field.
The external colour scheme has been increasingly revealed over the past weeks as the building work continues and Mr Laing said the shades of grey with maroon under the eaves was striking on the polished stone and concrete panels. The motel will have a connecting hallway to the club. The motel has been given an indigenous name, Allawah, which meant 'come stay, sit down, and stay awhile,' he said. The interior design colours would also echo those indigenous themes.
Work on the swimming pool has also begun. The original development application submitted by Wests in early 2014 also provided for staged building of gym facilities, a function centre, upgraded outdoor gaming area, dining and lounge terraces and an extra 127 car parking spaces.
The outdoor gaming and dining are part of the second stage as well as the function centre, but work on it will start first. The new development is part of a five-year masterplan revealed by Wests three years ago that showed the board wanted to diversify its interests to move away from a reliance on gaming and develop other income streams like hospital accommodation.