Hilton is eyeing land around City Hill for its $200 million hotel development in Canberra.
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The hotel giant has confirmed the city centre precinct is the proposed location for its first venture into the ACT.
![Hotel giant Hilton wants to build a luxury hotel in the City Hill precinct. Picture: Supplied Hotel giant Hilton wants to build a luxury hotel in the City Hill precinct. Picture: Supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc76yy0sqthheslmgn8w.jpg/r0_56_780_630_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
It comes as the ACT government refused to release a suite of documents related to the future of City Hill, which is set to undergo a major transformation in the coming decades.
The Canberra Times last month reported a Hilton-led consortium had made an unsolicited pitch to the Barr government to open its first hotel in the national capital.
The government published brief details about the proposal, including that it centred around a luxury hotel and a so-called "Work Trade Technology Centre".
At the time, Hilton declined to provide comment or further detail on the proposal, which was presented to the government on May 7.
But in a statement published recently, Hilton Australasia vice president of development, Rob Scullin, said Canberra was an "extremely important market" and the brand would be "honored to have the opportunity to be able to offer our world-renown hospitality to travelers visiting our national capital".
The development was estimated to cost more than $200 million, with the hotel to include 253 rooms.
Attached to the Hilton Canberra would be a hotel school and child care centre, designed to host diplomatic services, technology and trade-related providers, according to the statement.
The City Hill precinct has been been confirmed as the proposed location, although it is unclear exactly which parcel of land is preferred.
The ACT government is this year planning to sell off the first block of land around City Hill, as it embarks on a decades-long transformation of the area.
Land earmarked for a total of 1050 dwellings is scheduled to be released progressively in the next four years, coinciding with the timeline for construction work on light rail's extension from Alinga Street to Commonwealth Avenue Bridge.
The City Renewal Authority's 30-year plan has projected 2800 dwellings will be built around City Hill by mid-century, accommodating a population of 6160.
The authority has been scoping out the site's future ahead of the first land release, with government records showing that consultant Ernst & Young was paid $70,500 earlier this year for work on a so-called "Precinct Renewal Program".
The Canberra Times applied under freedom of information laws to access documents related to the consultant's work, which included a "London Circuit Business Case", a social housing sensitivity study and a Section 63 "bus plan".
Access to all 22 document was denied.
In refusing the application, the authority's information officer, Craig Gillman, said public disclosure of the documents was not in the public interest.
"Disclosure of this information would reasonably have a substantial and adverse impact on land release and sales within the precinct, and could therefore disadvantage the public, and the economy of the territory," Mr Gillman said in his letter of refusal.