Hamilton City Council has given a green light to go ahead with a high-end $120m hotel development in Hamilton central city.
Council has signed a conditional agreement to sell properties at 242-254 Victoria Street to one of New Zealand’s largest hotel and apartment developers, Templeton Group.
The minimum 10-storey, mixed-use building will include a world-class food and entertainment precinct on the ground level opening to the riverfront area, with a chic new hotel, office space, and residential apartments above. The developers will now proceed with planning and design.
This is Templeton’s first project in the Waikato region. The proposed development in Hamilton is estimated between $110 to $120 million across 2000m2 of land.
Council will retain ownership of the land and building at 260-266 Victoria Street, which will be developed into public space extending the footprint of VOTR.
Mayor Paula Southgate and Chair of the Economic Development Committee Councillor, Ewan Wilson, have been longstanding campaigners for a second four-star hotel in the city.
“We need this, it’s been a top priority for me since taking on this role,” said Mayor Southgate.
Along with the boost for the economy, Councillor Wilson is also excited about how the apartments will help rejuvenate the central city. “This is a huge economic driver, it’s exactly what we wanted and what we’ve been talking about for decades,” he said.
The central city contributed an estimated $3.2 billion (25%) to Hamilton’s GDP for the year to March 2023, and nearly 22,000 people are employed his area.
Council’s vision is to have about 4000 homes for up to 10,800 people in the central city and surrounds by 2035.
– from NewsViews
It’s news to me Hamilton had a four-star hotel. $315 million Council spent on consultants last year could have gone toward Templeton. This Council is obsessed with creating overblown amenities on overseas models, that don’t gel locally. H3 projects such as Claudelands Events, FMG Stadium and Seddon are all making losses. Local consultation with community groups in open minuted, meetings, is essential. Proposed hotel, like Councillor Wilson’s prior project Kiwi Air, won’t fly otherwise.