Tamworth Hotel owner cautions against 'over-development' as plans progress for city's first large multi-storey apartment

Tamworth Hotel owner Luke Prout said plans to transform the heritage-listed Marius Street building next door into a mixed use development with eateries, residential apartments and commercial premises, was "a big concern".

"The major concern for us is the feeling of over-development on the site," he told the Leader.

"It's basically going to be a block of high rise apartments, and the heritage streetscape is totally going to be dwarfed," he said.

"That's not to mention the affects it will have on our business - from the plans and drawings we have seen there will be five balconies overlooking our beer garden."

Mr Prout said staff at the hotel were also concerned about the potential for noise complaints, due to the development's close proximity.

"We can't help but be concerned there will be constant noise complaints and complaints in general from residents, which is a shame because we don't generally run the hotel like a 24-hour-party," he said.

"The hotel, having been there for 86 years, hasn't had to compete with anything like this and it's just really concerning for the cultural offering that we try to put forward for the town."

But the developer behind the $9 million project, Campbell McIntosh, argued the complex would actually enhance the Tamworth Hotel's business.

"It will create a beautiful vibe in downtown CBD," he said.

"The vibe that's going to be there when you walk outside of an apartment and you're living among a vibe of businesses and coffee shops and eateries will be fantastic, and it will put Tamworth on the map."

The Dungowan Station owner said he had spent thousands of dollars on heritage consultants, shadowing diagrams, sound engineers and traffic consultants as part of the development application to Tamworth Regional Council.

He said there has been strong interest from locals looking to purchase apartments at the site, and if the city is to achieve council's Blueprint 100 vision, there needs to be someone willing to grasp it.

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"We have had enormous support from the community, a lot of property owners that surround that site have shown their support," he said.

"We've got a couple that would love to purchase one of the apartments because they're very excited to finally have inner city living in Tamworth and make Tamworth more in line with a metropolitan style city."

But Mr Prout argued while he was "100 per cent pro-development", it had to be "reasonable and thought through".

"I think the precinct will thrive over the next ten years as we work towards Blueprint 100, but the plan disregards anything that's going on around it," he added.

The developer, a former president of the Tamworth Business Chamber, encouraged anyone with concerns to read the comprehensive submission to council.

The DA is currently on public exhibition, and the public can make a submission up until April 14 through the NSW Planning Portal.

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