Publican uncorks $40m vision

BRIMMING WITH CONFIDENCE: Ascot Hotel owner Will Cordwell has worked on the plans for two years.

Sharyn Oneill SO--

ONE of Rockhampton's historic pubs is to be bulldozed in a $40 million redevelopment project that will transform Musgrave Street.

Owner Will Cordwell yesterday unveiled plans for a six-storey complex on the site of the Ascot Hotel.

His ambitious vision is for a 75-room four-star motel with an additional 28 budget rooms for backpackers, plus pool, gym, restaurant, bistro, al fresco dining and bars.

Plans will be lodged with Rockhampton Regional Council within the month and he is hopeful the new Ascot will be open for business in time for the next Beef Expo in 2012.

“I think this shows how confident I feel about Rockhampton and about this part of town,” said Will, beaming with enthusiasm about the project, which has taken two years to pull together.

“It will be the making of Musgrave Street and I hope it will stimulate other cafes and restaurants to spring up here,” he said. “I believe it will be the start of this street coming alive.

“I've been here now for 24 years and I've never been more confident about the prospects.”

The walls of the hotel's stone grill restaurant were plastered with the proposed development yesterday, with an artist's impression of the futuristic new structure the centre of attention.

One of the striking features will be an atrium. “It will just be a fantastic, pleasant place to be,” said Will who explained there would be 120 parking places shared between the storeys and a tunnel created in the lane at the back of the pub.

“We will be building over the lane and into the existing car park to make room for all the elements that will make it so exciting. We will have a new bottle shop, takeaway food and, of course, we will retain stone grill dining because it has been so successful over the years.”

He said he was going public with his plans before lodging the application to give local people a chance to comment.

“If there are any problems we haven't foreseen I want to know about them early so we can address them before the application goes in. It will take 12 months to demolish the existing hotel and construct the new building and I don't want any unnecessary delays.”

The Ascot, which currently has nine rooms for backpackers upstairs, was built before 1895 – but it's unclear exactly when.

Back then it was called The Forester's Arms and it has had an eventful history that includes at least one major fire, a mysterious death in which a sleepwalker fell from a balcony and a battering from the elements.

“In the 1948 cyclone the top of the hotel was blown clean off. It was found streets away,” said Will.

And there's one mystery that he hopes the demolition will solve... what's in the cellar. “It will be exciting to discover what's down there. It will be a time capsule,” he said.

The beer cellar was sealed decades ago and Will says he doesn't know anyone who has been down it. “I can hardly wait,” he says.