The vacant and neglected Grand Hotel and neighbouring former café in the main street have both been an eyesore for a number of years but that’s soon about to change following the recent sale of the two buildings.
Both premises at 34 and 36 Marshall Street have been bought by Cobar Shire Council as part of Council’s vision to upgrade the main street.
Council’s general manager Peter Vlatko has pushed for Council to purchase the buildings for some time and was thrilled when the sale was finalised earlier this month.
“We believe that it’s an investment for the town to make it more appealing to visitors and also local residents,” Mr Vlatko told The Cobar Weekly.
“The Grand Hotel building looked disgusting and the state it was in made it look like the town is dying.
“We talked to the owners and, as they weren’t planning on doing anything about it, the Council decided to buy it.
“The intention was to be able to link it to the carparking area at the back.”
Mr Vlatko said their plan is to see an arcade/walkaway built in the space to hopefully attract more shops to the main street.
He said Council “got it for a good price” when they paid $550,000 for both buildings.
“The funds came from Council’s general fund, not grant funding but we are looking at grants to develop them further,” Mr Vlatko said.
“When we did Council’s Main Street Masterplan, we incorporated the Grand Hotel (on the basis that we intended to purchase it), and now we’re trying to find grants to create design options for both buildings.
“Originally, when we looked at it [the Grand Hotel] we were worried it might need to be demolished,” he said.
There were some concerns that the brick wall adjoining the two properties might be close to falling down.
“But we’ve had it checked and the walls are fantastic.
“They’ve got no cracks in them, they just need tender loving care.”
He said purchasing the building next door to the Grand gives them an opportunity to make bigger plans for the area, which has been labelled as the ‘Grand Precinct’ in the Main Street Masterplan.
Creating an arcade that linked with the rear under-used carpark would provide local business owners and employers with a convenient place to park and would free up more parking spaces in the main street for their customers.
Mr Vlatko said by purchasing the Grand Hotel, Council would also be helping to preserve the history of the building.
He said the preservation of a number of local buildings is a focus of the Main Street Masterplan.
“While it’s probably not going to reopen as a pub, I think there’s the potential for some restaurants to go in there, perhaps some accommodation upstairs, more shops.
“Someone suggested a boutique brewery, there’s lots of options.”
Councillors have given Mr Vlatko 12 months to be able to come up with a concrete plan to present to the community as to what will be done with the space.
