Hotel developers compete for prized Inverness Campus location
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A deadline has just passed for entrepreneurs to express their intent. Development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) expects to confirm a preferred bidder next month.
A three-acre site is earmarked for a “business-class” 120-bedroom hotel. It would sit alongside the existing Inverness College UHI and Scotland’s Rural College.
A spokesman for HIE said: “The commercial agency GVA, which is marketing the hotel site on our behalf, has received a number of submissions. We expect an update from GVA in the next couple of weeks. Once we’ve assessed this there would be a period of more detailed negotiation with the developer.”
He added: “We hope to be able to make an announcement sometime in early 2018.”
More than 600 people currently work at the campus. The figure is expected to reach 1300 within five years.
HIE envisages improved leisure, restaurant and bar facilities to enhance the appeal of the campus.
It regards the creation of a quality hotel and associated facilities an essential element of the wider 215-acre development.
The Inverness Airport Business Park is also planning to build a major hotel at Dalcross.
