Te Mata Peak House, Havelock North is set to get a revamp with new tenants. Photo / Warren Buckland
Te Mata Peak House, Havelock North is set to get a revamp with new tenants. Photo / Warren Buckland
Tourists will soon be able to stay near the top of Hawke's Bay's Te Mata Peak as part of plans by new tenants to bring a hospitality building with a "chequered history" back to life.
Haydn Middleton and partner Juliet Burton are set to take over 50-year-old Peak House, andsay they're looking to bring it back to its former glory.
"It has been a long time coming," Middleton said.
"I grew up in Taradale and used to come to Te Mata Peak often and always admired it and to be able to be a part of it now is something special."
Middleton said Peak House had been up and down as a business in recent times, but he felt it had the potential to be the base for the thousands of tourists and locals who go up the peak every day when it reopens in late November.
Built in 1967, at the time it was one of the go-to venues in Hawke's Bay with its spectacular views across the Heretaunga Plains.
But it's been a bit of a bogey project in the years since. Multiple ventures have come and gone during a rollercoaster period in recent times.
It received an extensive refurbishment in 2013 and is now going through another one, Middleton said.
"We want to bring it back to how it was."
Manager of Te Mata Park Trust Emma Buttle said the trust, which owns the building, was pleased it had exciting local innovators taking on the project.
"Haydn and Juliet have the skills, experience and energy to take Peak House to the next level," she said.
"With an impressive list of credentials in the hospitality, event management and marketing sectors, the Trust Board is confident that Haydn and Juliet will create an exceptional eatery and functions destination.
Haydn Middleton pictured at Peak House in 2014. Photo / File
"They are creative and motivated and we have been impressed by their innovative ideas and are already receiving multiple inquiries for event bookings."
Outside of the café space, the pair are weaving an Airbnb destination into the plans, creating accommodation with possibly the best views in Hawke's Bay, Buttle said.
The plans for the new venture are for it to be turned in to a coffee bar and functions venue as well as a small boutique lodge, using the four-bedroom flat adjacent to the main building as three-bedroom accommodation and an office.
They are planning to keep the evenings free to use the facility as a booking venue but have long-term plans to upgrade it to an eatery over the next 12 months.
A picture of the site in 2012 before it was fully renovated a year later. Photo / File
"Peak House has had an interesting chequered history over the last couple of years, with a few lessees occupying the site for short periods, however the Park Trust Board firmly believes that Haydn and Juliet have what it takes to make it a success," Buttle said.
"We are very supportive and fully back their business plan and ideas."
