An unused lot with plans for a 104 room hotel has gone up for sale on Baylis Street.
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Sitting on the Edward Street corner, the site was approved for a six storey hotel in 2020, featuring a food and beverage offering, commercial spaces and conferencing facilities.
The site was listed for expressions of interest on Friday and had attracted 16 inquiries by Monday morning, predominantly from Australian hotel developers.
The price guide for the site is $4.2 million.
The hotel is one of multiple planned around the Wagga CBD, with an approved 148 room hotel planned at the Murrumbidgee Mill site and a 42 room hotel slated for Forsyth Street.
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Wagga Business Chamber's Serena Hardwick said the interest in building hotels in the city showed there was a demand.
"What it does prove is that these companies and investors have done research about the market here and there definitely is confidence that we're a growing and strong community and there is a need and demand for that type of investment," she said.
HTL Property director Nic Simarro said investors were attracted to the consistent growth of Wagga's population and economy, but built and operational hotels in the city rarely hit the market.
"Wagga Wagga is NSW's most populated inland town, attracting a blend of leisure and corporate clientele and with few if any accommodation sales in the past five years, often the only option left for investors is to develop," he said.
HTL Asia Pacific director Andrew Jolliffe said the current popularity of the regional market would attract interest.
"Given Wagga Wagga's equidistant location between Melbourne and Sydney, we expect strong demand from local and national developers looking to take advantage of a surging regional market, one well placed to enjoy sustained visitation following the domestic market's investment and lifestyle re-engagement with non-metro markets," Mr Jolliffe said.
Ms Hardwick said regional areas had been "showcased" as tourism options in the wake of the pandemic, which had increased the interest in investing in places like Wagga.
Outside of tourism, she said through the business chamber she also saw work and health travel as major driving factors for accommodation demand in Wagga.
"We see the demand coming from the professional services and the transient population," she said.
"Our health services, the catchment for that is around 300,000+ people, that means maybe they do have their appointments here so we do have that tourism, created from that health precinct as well."
The 1,486 square metre site is positioned close to the city's restaurant and bar strip as well as the hospital precinct.
Designs for the hotel include 70 car parking spaces, 104 accommodation rooms between 14 and 32 square metres in size, two commercial spaces and a function room.