The land and buildings housing what will be one of Auckland’s newest four-star plus commercial accommodation venues, the Doyles Hotel on Hobson, are being offered for sale as a ‘turnkey operation’ – with interest in occupying the site expected from big international hoteliers.
The location – at 66 Hobson Street, across the road from the Sky Tower - has been the retail premises of an army surplus and outdoor clothing and equipment store for more than 30 years.
Demolition work on the dated four-storey building currently on site is scheduled to begin early next year, with construction starting soon after, and completion of the new hotel planned for early 2020.
Plans have already been submitted for consents to construct a 208-room hotel on the 484 square metre site fronting directly onto Hobson Street. Current architectural configurations have room sizes within the 28-storey building ranging from 23 – 30 square metres.
The property is being marketed for sale by expressions of interest through Bayleys Auckland, with the deadline closing at 4pm on November 29. Bayleys Auckland tourism specialists Nick Thompson and Paul Dixon said that while only the land and buildings were being offered for sale at this stage, Bayleys already has several hotel operators lining up to enter into negotiations with the eventual new owner.
“Working with the developer at this intermediary stage of the project will allow any successful new owner of the site to have an influence over some aspects of the look and feel of the finished property – encompassing aesthetics, décor, and amenities,” said Thompson.
A just-released report by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, entitled New Zealand Hotels – an Attractive Time to Invest, has reported that “a highly constrained (Auckland) hotel sector has resulted in competition for rooms.”
“More price-sensitive domestic demand has been replaced by higher value international guests, resulting in further increases to average daily rates (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR),” said the report.
“Annual demand for (Auckland) hotels is forecast to increase to over 4.1 million room nights by 2025. This represents an increase of 45.5 percent over the March 2017 year-end.
“Auckland hotels experience the least seasonality of any hotel market in New Zealand. Supply (of hotel rooms) is slowly responding to the rapid increase in demand. However, there is still a significant lag in the supply of new rooms.”
