Remember when we said that Auckland, New Zealand, needed new hotels to accommodate a surge in demand?
Good news! One of the last remaining waterfront sites in downtown Auckland is slated to get a new luxury hotel.
Viaduct Harbour Holdings Limited has announced plans for the redevelopment of One Market Square in the middle of the Viaduct Harbour, a space that was previously occupied by the Simunovich Fisheries building.
“We know that Auckland is critical to New Zealand’s tourist market and there is a clear need for luxury hotel accommodation in the CBD,” Angela Bull, CEO of Viaduct Harbour Holdings Limited, said in a statement. “A luxury hotel has many synergies with the amenities and attractions located in the Viaduct Harbour and will act as a catalyst to attract even more visitors to the area. With 165 rooms, and a rooftop bar proposed, we see this development as adding to the desirability of Viaduct Harbour and the continued investment in the precinct and surrounding area.”
Colliers International is launching a global search for a development partner to build a luxury hotel on the site. “We want a landmark development that will complement the many great buildings already built or underway in the wider Viaduct Harbour and Wynyard Quarter area,” Bull said
Dean Humphries, National Director of Hotels for Colliers International, said that New Zealand is in the midst of the strongest tourism boom in its history.
“As the country’s tourism capital, Auckland is the main beneficiary of the 3.5 million international visitors that came to our shores last year,” he said. “The surge in visitor arrivals in recent years has led to a critical shortage of quality hotel accommodation in the city with an immediate requirement for new hotels.
“The New Zealand Government predicts that Auckland will likely need another 4,300 new hotel rooms over the next decade to keep up with current demand projections.
Humphries said that new hotel rooms are needed in all market segments, and the new waterfront hotel would cater to the exclusive luxury market.
Colliers International will be marketing the development opportunity via an international expression of interest campaign closing on May 2 this year.
Bull said that the development partnership model will keep the strategic waterfront land in New Zealand ownership, while opening the project up to beneficial foreign investment.