$23m hotel approved for Dolphin Ave, Batemans Bay

Plans to replace a decrepit and recently knocked-down motel with a multimillion-dollar mixed-use hotel and residential complex in a popular NSW South Coast tourism hotspot have been given the tick of approval years after it was submitted.

The old Hanging Rock Motel has been knocked down and will be replaced with the new hotel. Pictures: Google Maps, supplied

Plans to replace a decrepit and recently knocked-down motel with a multimillion-dollar mixed-use hotel and residential complex in a popular NSW South Coast tourism hotspot have been given the tick of approval years after it was submitted.

Originally submitted in July 2023, Canberra-based Dolphin Avenue Developments’ now approved proposal seeks to construct a three-storey, 43-room hotel, with a separate townhouse development containing 10 homes.

The approved hotel will be erected at a now-vacant Dolphin Ave block neighbouring the Batemans Bay skatepark, TAFE, library and Hanging Rock Oval, which was once home to the Hanging Rock Family Motel, which closed its doors in 2021.

The old hotel has since been demolished to make way for the new development, which Eurobodalla Council approved in July this year.

Approved development application plans reveal the hotel and townhouse complex also includes 75 carparking spaces, foyer, reception, office, breakfast and bar area and back-of-house areas.

The hotel is pinned for Hanging Rock near the Batemans Bay CBD. Picture: Supplied

Construction has already seen the removal of the existing motel, but will also see significant landscaping.

Former Batemans Bay Business and Tourism Chamber president David Maclachlan welcomed the hotel, saying Batemans Bay was in dire need of more accommodation.

The hotel has been approved for Dolphin Ave.

“We’re one of the most popular tourist destinations in NSW,” he said.

“We’re the closest coastal town to Canberra, but there is a genuine lack of tourism accommodation.”

The hotel comes as other Eurobodalla towns also see major hotel developments proposed, such as a massive facelift for Narooma’s Tree Motel on the Princes Highway, where plans are under way to turn it into a modern tourism accommodation facility.

Its plans also remain on public exhibition.

The Dolphin Ave hotel also comes some years after well-known hotel empire Abode opened its first coastal hotel in Malua Bay, 12km south of Batemans Bay.

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Originally published as $23m hotel approved for Dolphin Ave, Batemans Bay