The owner of South Perth’s Metro Hotel is going ahead with a 53-room expansion, despite a softening in demand for Perth hotel rooms, with Cooper & Oxley signed to carry out construction.
The expansion was initially flagged in April last year, but a dip in the performance of the South Perth hotel due to a reduction in resources sector-related demand forced the Metro Hospitality Group to put the works on the backburner.
The group announced to the ASX today it had appointed Cooper & Oxley to carry out the expansion, which will take the total number of rooms at the hotel to 123.
Commercial terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Preliminary piling works are already complete, while the expansion will comprise 53 new rooms as well as new conference and functions facilities.
Construction is expected to begin next week and be completed by the end of 2015.
Metro Hospitality Group said the tender process attracted submissions from seven medium-sized Perth-based builders.
“Despite the softening in the Perth market and the large number of rooms planned and under construction including our own, the larger number of rooms will create economic efficiencies which should boost the bottom line performance of the Metro Hotel Perth operation,” Metro Hospitality Group parent company Transmetro Corporation said in its annual report.