Hotel backs 2019 launch

ACCORHOTELS maintains its new Mercure Hotel at Southport is still on track to open in “late 2019”, despite issuing a statement yesterday that it was set to launch in 2021.

Mercure Hotels announced in May it will be the operator of a new four-star property, valued between $20 million and $30 million, with a launch date set for November next year, saying it would feature 160 rooms, a rooftop bar and conference facilities.

However, Mercure’s parent company Accor sent out a new statement yesterday, which mentioned the Gold Coast project was among four other projects set to launch in 2021, and saying it had only 130 rooms.

Asked to clarify, the company said there had been an “internal error” in the statement, and that the hotel was still “on track for a late 2019 opening”.

“However, due to design developments there is a possibility that the opening could be pushed out further. It’s not unusual for large hotel projects that timeline schedules move,” a spokeswoman said.

Property Solutions, developer of the $550 million Queen Street Village where the hotel is planned, was unaware of any delay for the hotel, which fronts Nerang St, at the light rail station.

Director Alex Crooke said the overall project remained on schedule despite challenges caused by April’s Commonwealth Games.

“Certainly we’ve lost a few months with the Commonwealth Games, but we still hope to be on-site well before Christmas and are on track to launch in 2020,” he said.

The hotel will be owned by Stay Centro, which is linked to Gold Coast businessman Michael Carr, whose Centro Group is also behind Quest short-stay apartment hotels at Chermside and Eight Mile Plains, and operates nine BP service stations in Queensland and NSW.

Mercure is operated by the Accor Group, which this year absorbed the Gold Coastbased Mantra Group and its properties for $1.2 billion.

Southport councillor Dawn Crichlow said she’d heard nothing of a delay for the hotel. “I was surprised when they said November 2019 – I thought it would take longer than that to do it.”

The building has plans for a three-level podium with 12 storeys of hotel rooms above and a rooftop entertainment area including a swimming pool.

It will have space for 32 car parks and feature a function room, fitness centre and restaurant, with a bar and swimming pool planned for the rooftop.

The first stage of the $550 million Queen Street Village project, spanning the former