A group of four Ballarat developers who have spent the past five years restoring the neglected building to its former glory will open the doors of the hotel’s ground floor next week.

A spokesperson for Ki Lin, the company developing the hotel, said they’d been receiving positive feedback from the public in the weeks leading up to the opening, with a lot of curiosity about the transformation of the iconic building.

To be leased as a restaurant/cafe with a southern provincial Louisiana-inspired menu, the ground floor has been completely re-wired and re-floored in a mammoth renovation job.

The space pays tribute to 127 Sturt Street’s heritage with original cornicing overlooking a stylish bar area with metal pressed panelling.

The developers worked closely with Heritage Victoria throughout the five-year process and were guided by old photographs of Victorian architecture from the 1800s.

With the ground floor set to open next week, work on the upstairs is continuing.

The space, which the developers plan to open to the public by Christmas, will operate as a function room opening onto the building’s iconic verandah.

Featuring tapered posts and original swag belly panels, the verandah overlooking Sturt Street is unique in Australia.

There are also plans to open an outdoor dining space in the stables behind the hotel later in the year.

A spokesperson for the developers said the historical cellars, which had been flooded with knee-deep mud during years of neglect, had been carefully restored during the renovation process.