14-room boost in Comfort Inn plan
THE new owners of a Cairns hotel have multi-million-dollar expansion plans on the cards including developing a significant vacant block next door.
The Comfort Inn on Lake St was originally a block of flats built in 1970-71, which were extended with a second block at right angles and converted to hotel units in 1976.
The L-shaped property had a central reception and restaurant built shortly after, with two further blocks built on the Grafton St site about 1990.
Renovations took place in 2005 including a substantial extension to the restaurant and reception area, and the property was sold to Chinese buyers in 2017 for $6 million.
Now the property is in line for the next phase of its life, with moves under way to increase the current 53-room motel by an extra 14 rooms on the neighbouring empty block.
“The new rooms take the form of a long and skinny twostorey wing, reflecting the shape of the site available, but this also provides the fourth side to the existing three-sided Comfort Inn quadrangle,” a development application to Cairns Regional Council says.
“This allows the access balconies to wrap around three sides of the internal courtyard.
“A new lift built on the existing site improves access to all three wings.
“A tropical garden will be planted right along the long setback to provide a garden outlook for the motel rooms and improve privacy to the (neighbouring St John’s Anglican) Church.”
The council is yet to make a decision on the proposal.