The Launceston City Council on Monday gave its general manager Robert Dobrzynski permission to sell back the silos to Roberts after the council had acquired the property for its flood levee project.

Mr Stewart yesterday said he had agreed to buy the property from the company - in what could be one of the quickest sales for Roberts in history.

Settlement will take place in the next 30 days.

Mr Stewart would not reveal the sale price as it was a commercial arrangement with another private party.

He had offered $250,000 to the council in January to buy the site.

Mr Stewart said the 11-storey hotel would contain 64 standard rooms over eight floors and four 100-square-metre premier suites.

Two small conference spaces will be housed on the ground floor and a bistro, bar, restaurant and reception area on the first floor.

A car park of almost 100 spaces will be built for guests.

A convention centre was proposed for the top level but scrapped due to its expense.

Mr Stewart said the hotel works were likely to cost at least $11 million, which included building a retaining flood wall, estimated at $1 million.

Mr Stewart said it would take up to four months to rezone the land through a dispensation process to allow for the development under Launceston's interim planning scheme.

"Now we are comfortable that we can purchase the silos, we're going to go as hard as we can on our working drawings whilst we are running the rezoning process," Mr Stewart said.

"Hopefully by October or November we will have engineering and design completed so we can have (building) work started by the end of the year."