Hilton guests hunting for beds

By ANNE GIBSON property editor

The Scottish millionaire with a penchant for fancy boats was due to sweep through the lobby of Auckland's new Hilton Hotel, complete with an entourage of 120 friends, come April 5.

With 60 rooms booked for a week in the hotel at the end of Princes Wharf, the tartan clan was to be among the many enjoying the luxury of staying in a brand-new waterfront hotel.

The launch of the Scot's luxury yacht, built locally by New Zealanders, the darlings of the world boat-building industry, was the occasion for celebrations which would have included lavish entertaining.

The millionaire - who the Hilton group won't name - is among more than 100 prospective guests who have had to be booked elsewhere because the $50 million hotel cannot open on time.

If there's haggis to be had, it will have to be served at another Auckland hotel.

At least 30 separate reservations had been made for the Hilton in early April. All are now cancelled.

Embarrassing? Sure, says hotel manager John Ingram, describing the debacle surrounding the collapse of Hartner Construction, which was building the Hilton, as an "idiosyncrasy."

All hotels had teething problems, he said, and altered opening dates were not too unusual. If necessary, the Hilton will open partially finished in mid-April, he says.

While Mr Ingram remains relaxed about the fiasco surrounding his hotel, subcontractors are showing a distinct lack of patience over the whole Hartner business.

They grilled receiver John Waller and managing director Wayne Hartner at Thursday's two-hour creditors' meeting, to the point where an upset Mr Waller threatened to walk out.

Many subbies are owed well over $1 million, with debts dating back 18 months for work on Hartner jobs around Auckland and Wellington.

The ceiling fans at the Tamaki Yacht Club did little to cool tempers as the crowd called for either Government intervention in the form of a statutory manager, or liquidation.

While they were venting their anger, failed subbie Alotech Walls & Ceilings, itself in liquidation claiming $1.3 million, was in the High Court at Auckland, winning recognition which will allow it to proceed with a petition to liquidate Hartner.

At Thursday's meeting, the subbies tried to get the mainly silent Mr Hartner to say if he would hand over the estimated $6.7 million value of his 24m launch, Risk & Reward, which is up for sale in the US, or money from any sale of his newly built house at 28 Golf Rd in Epsom, worth around $4 million.

The subbies want to get their hands on these assets - and much more. But Mr Hartner pleaded poor, saying the bank had him "by the short and curlies."

He remained silent about whether, once the bank was paid off, he would hand over any proceeds to the subbies, who accused him of taking money out of the company to furnish a lavish lifestyle.

Mr Waller told the stunned creditors that "zip" was available for them right now, acknowledging his job was to give the National Bank back its $8.5 million.

Nor, he said, had he been able to get the Hilton job restarted. The site has been idle for a fortnight with some subbies' tools trapped inside.

Auckland has a lot at stake financially over the Hilton.

Mr Ingram calculates that the hotel will generate $80 million in gross revenue annually, pumping $20 million of that into the local economy and employing 140 staff.

But he knows first-hand about problems down at the wharf. He lives in an apartment at Shed 23, next door to the ill-fated Shed 24, which was partly responsible for the $20 million downfall of another construction firm, Goodall ABL, last year.