Lockett Real Estate agent Garry Lockett said a local buyer had snapped up the building and planned to use the site for residential purposes.

Tim Sutherland, who wanted to spend $1.5 million to develop the site and operate it as a restaurant with an outdoor beer garden, decided to sell it recently.

Mr Lockett said Mr Sutherland was concerned the planning application would be delayed due to a number of objections against the proposal.

He had a conversation with Mr Lockett, who spoke to a local resident about the opportunity.

"I ran into someone in the supermarket and I said 'I've got something that might interest you'," Mr Lockett said.

The contract was recently signed.

"They're not going to do anything commercial," Mr Lockett said.

"They're going to make sure everybody is happy."

In February Mr Sutherland said he was weighing up his options.

"We had very low confidence that council would make a decision in a timely manner," he said.

He said he couldn't risk the development being delayed and having no income over summer. "We've already had a year without income because of COVID," he said.

"If we miss this summer it will be two-and-a-half almost three years."

Mr Lockett said Mr Sutherland had put in an offer on a pub in another town.

"He was worried that it would take forever and cost a lot of money," he said.

"He's already spent a lot of money and he feared it would be three years with no income. He decided that he could buy a pub for the same amount of money and start running it straight away."

Mr Lockett said he hoped the process involved with obtaining a planning permit did not put off other developers.

He said the purchase was a great investment, predicting the prime parcel of land would double in value in the coming years.

The zone site is approximately 1206m2, with the freehold featuring land frontage to Cox Street of 26.51m and Sackville Street 45.5m.

The site has the original two-storey building as well as a vacant allotment of approximately 6002m off Cox Street.

The original building was built pre-1900s and began trading as the Colonial Bank of Australasia in 1911-12.

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