RELATED: Partnership with hotel and gallery
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NOVEMBER: Building boost for Bendigo
BENDIGO'S newest hotel is open.
The Schaller Studio opened its doors on Thursday and boasts 128 rooms, all featuring original artworks by the hotel's namesake Mark Schaller.
The hotel is on the corner of Bayne Street and Lucan Street and is a key feature of the new Bendigo Hospital project.
Art Series Hotel Group chief executive Will Deague said building modules off-site had paved the way for a faster build.
"It just seems like yesterday, or five months ago in fact, that we stood just out under the trees there and had a bit of a media launch and official announcement of this hotel," he said.
"We stood there with the mayor Barry Lyons and couple of big pots with some paint and brushes and spoke about our vision for the first Art Series Studio.
"It's pretty amazing that we're standing here after almost five months, or less, with the finished product.
"On January 10 we started building the hotel and I spoke to the mayor shortly thereafter and he said, 'I went fishing for four days and I came back and it was built'.
"It's quite an innovative way of building it and it's something that's certainly going to get some traction going forward with this modular method."
Mr Deague expects a 50/50 mix of people associated with the hospital and outside guests.
"We're very price sensitive towards our hospital guests as well," he said.
Mr Deague said he was proud to further his Bendigo links through the hotel.
"After the first media launch I got a call from an old historian in Bendigo who said, 'Are you a descendant of W.H. Deague who built the tallest chimney in Bendigo in 1867?'
"I thought, yeah OK.
"Anyway it was my great, great, great grandfather.
"So we're pretty proud of that and we're back to build this."