Grand Mercure Suites to open in September

An accommodation drought in the northern Queensland city of Mackay is about to be broken with the opening of the first international hotel in the city in September 2006.

Grand Mercure Suites Mackay will pump 80 one- and two-bedroom deluxe suites into the region’s tourism infrastructure at a time when local hotels are struggling to provide enough rooms to satisfy the demand from business and leisure travellers.

The Grand Mercure will be the first internationally-branded hotel to open in the Mackay CBD, offering the city’s highest level of hotel facilities and services. 

With a total development cost of $30 million, the seven-storey Grand Mercure Suites Mackay occupies a prime central city location with frontages to Victoria, Wood and Gregory Streets.

The hotel is being developed by Cougar Developments, one of North Queensland’s most experienced property developers, who also own the adjacent Centrepoint shopping centre. Centrepoint is set for a major refurbishment over the next six months.

Cougar has been established in Mackay for over 25 years, with its development, construction, and investment management activities extending to the residential, industrial, commercial, retail, and hospitality/leisure sectors of the property industry.

“Our aim with the new hotel and the upgrading of Centrepoint is to create a new focal point for the Mackay CBD,” says Cougar Developments’ General Manager, Rick Poppleston.

“Mackay has progressed dramatically in the past five years, but the city’s accommodation sector hasn’t kept pace, so the new Grand Mercure complex will make a vast difference to the city and the region.

“There is great demand for short and long-stay accommodation from the corporate sector, as well as conference and function facilities, and the Grand Mercure will significantly upgrade Mackay’s hotel stocks.

“In addition to stylish accommodation, the Grand Mercure will offer conference facilities for up to 200 delegates, two restaurants, three bars, a gaming lounge, lap pool, gym and 30 retail tenancies.

“The development recognises that Mackay has become an increasingly sophisticated business and leisure destination, with the mineral boom and the city’s position as a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef transforming the city into a major regional hub.”

Mr Poppleston also announced the appointment of a General Manager for the Grand Mercure Suites.

Hayden Hughes will join the property later this month after a decade of experience in major hotels around Australia. He comes to Mackay after managing the exclusive “North Shore” villa development at Novotel Twin Waters Resort on the Queensland Sunshine Coast.