The plans excited residents at The Rock who are currently without a pub and service station, yet the King's Own Hotel Motel and the vacant space at the site at 4760 Olympic Highway remain untouched.

When residents noticed the site was put back on the market six weeks ago, their hopes for a new flashy community hub dissipated and questions about the precinct's future began flowing.

Terra Ferma Pty Ltd purchased the site where they planned to restore the existing hotel and twelve-room motel and construct a service station, a truck stop and eight retail and food stores.

Terra Ferma director Diaa Shaker said everything was in place for their plans to go ahead, but it is one hurdle setting them back.

"To fund the development we need tenants to be locked in," he said.

"Considering the cost of living and inflation, not many people were willing to rent the space.

"We need someone to operate the pub, restaurant, convenient store, the shops and the service station."

It is the condition handed down by the bank that the developers secure operators before funding is made available.

"We have been trying to find tenants and operators, we can develop in a second, our funding is approved, our plans are ready to go and I have a builder in place but It's hard to find a tenant in The Rock who can do it," he said.

"This is what is stopping it, we're waiting for local people to put their hands up.

"We're very happy to give incentives in order for them to do so, we're doing the development, the fitting out, everything, they will just be operating it."

It was out of exhaustion Terra Ferma decided to put the site on the market, but a sale has also proven hard given the absence of tenants.

The Kings Own Hotel was previously brought in 2016 by a local family and was put back on the market in 2018.

"We put it on the market just for the last six weeks because we've given up, we've been trying to find operators," he said.

"When we tried to sell it we did not get the value for it because it isn't tenanted so we will call off the marketing campaign soon."

Between all of the services Mr Shaker said the site will offer "at least" 100 job vacancies, just another reason why Lockhart Shire Council mayor Greg Verdon is crossing his fingers for a miracle.

"It's such an important development for the town because it will provide employment opportunities for young people, it will provide a necessary service in that we have no access to petrol in town, and this was our only real form of accommodation for visitors," Cr Verdon said.

Plans emerged in 2022 for the old service station at The Rock in Urana Street to be restored and made operational, but they later fell through due.

Aside from the desire for a service station, Cr Verdon said the site currently is one for sore eyes.

"It is becoming a bit of an eyesore at the moment so we would be really excited to see it developed," he said.

"Anything that offers employment to locals is fantastic, we understand the difficulty they may have but I think if they are able to get it partly filled I think that would all go well in attracting additional tenants into the site.

"I think also because this would be the only 24-hour service station between Albury and West Wyalong and the amount of traffic that goes along this road is quite substantial, so I think it's a fantastic development and I hope it does succeed."

Cr Verdon said the council is trying to assist developers in locating tenants through its tourism development officer.