Hotel on cards for historic Oatlands

THE historic town of Oatlands is fast becoming a tourist mecca and its local council is now seeking a developer to build a boutique hotel.

The Southern Midlands Council has launched a Request for Proposals process in search of someone to establish the hotel on a site which is public land.

The suitable proponent will develop and operate a hotel with at least a 4- star rating and 30+ rooms, with facilities such as a bar, restaurant and multipurpose meeting/ conference room. A 5590m sq central site in Barrack St has been identified and will be made available for purchase by the successful proponent. It would be the first accommodation facility of its size in the Oatlands region. The rebirth of Oatlands as a tourist town is being led by a $ 14m whisky distillery being built near the town’s historic landmark, the 1837 Callington Mill. Also in recent times the local pub The Kentish has reopened and new wine bar the Imbibers is drawing crowds. Mayor Alex Green said the proposed hotel would fill a gap in the region’s tourism infrastructure that has been acknowledged for many years. “The proposed hotel will open up Oatlands and the surrounding region to a whole new visitor accommodation market. It will complement, not compete with, the existing small scale B& Bs,” he said. Cr Green said a design befitting of the special nature of the village was important. Register interest via the project’s contact officer, Damian Mackey, at hotelproposal@ southernmidlands. t as. gov. au, or call 0499 782 584. The deadline for proposals is February 24.