Tauranga City Council is in the final throes of organising an internationally branded hotel and construction could be under way in Durham St by the end of the year.
Neither the council nor the hotel-management operator would confirm the brand, but it's understood to be Novotel, which was mooted three yearsago.
Anthony Averill, the council's property manager, said, "We are working with a developer to get something delivered, and I'm hoping the agreement will be unconditional within three to four months.
"I can't comment on the deal, and the councillors have considered it in confidential. But something should be under way on the site by the end of the year."
Auckland-based Paul Richardson, Accor Hospitality's vice-president New Zealand and Fiji, said he couldn't comment until a contract was exchanged between the council and the developer.
"We are fully supportive of anyone wanting to build a hotel in Tauranga, and if a developer wants us to run it for him, then that's fine," he said.
"We did an enormous amount of work on the [earlier] proposal and we still have confidence in the area."
The Auckland developer has a confidentiality arrangement with the council and is finalising plans to build a four-star-plus hotel with at least 160 rooms.
The plans, for the carpark site opposite Baycourt Theatre, were revitalised after funder Tainui Group Holdings pulled out of developing a 146-room Novotel Hotel and 14 top-level luxury apartments in 2008. That hotel was expected to generate $10 million to $20 million a year in visitor spending, employment and associated services.
Soon after Tainui pulled out, Mr Richardson said Accor would still like to operate a hotel in Tauranga. "We are always looking to expand, and Tauranga appears to be a progressive city with a thriving business community. Our brand would be well suited there."
Accor's best-known brands are five-star Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure and three-star Ibis, and it operates more than 4000 hotels in 100 countries, including 30 in New Zealand. A new Novotel would be the second internationally-branded hotel in Tauranga after the Sebel Trinity Wharf in Dive Cres, opened nearly five years ago.
