Chance to snap up city hotel

NAG 09Sep15 - ON THE MARKET: Whangarei's Kingsgate Hotel is for sale.

Whangarei's largest hotel is for sale.

The Kingsgate Hotel Whangarei at 9 Riverside Drive, Riverside, and the Kingsgate Hotel Hamilton at 100 Garnett Ave, Te Rapa, are being marketed for sale, individually or together, by Dean Humphries of Colliers International. They will be sold by way of expressions of interest closing 4pm, Tuesday, October 6.

Humphries, Colliers' national director of hotels, says the hotels represent an exceptional opportunity to acquire significant real estate assets in two of New Zealand's largest and fastest growing regions.

"Assets of this nature are rarely sold on the market and, due to the value of the underlying land and high building costs, they are unlikely to ever be replaced in their current format.

"They will provide investors with attractive returns over the medium to long term."

Humphries says as an added appeal, new owners have the option to retain the existing hotel company to manage the properties on their behalf or buy them with vacant possession.

"Both hotels are currently being managed by the prominent hotel operator Millennium & Copthorne Hotels under its popular 3 to 3.5 star Kingsgate brand.

"A new investor can therefore choose to retain this group to manage the hotels or appoint a new hotel company under a different brand. Alternatively both hotels could be purchased by an owner operator, or family business, that elects to operate the hotels themselves."

The two properties have been owned by the same family since they were built (Whangarei in 1986 and Hamilton circa 1998) and they are now selling them as part of a wider divestment strategy.

The Kingsgate Hotel Whangarei - located in close proximity to the Whangarei CBD overlooking the Town Basin and marina - comprises 115 guest rooms and includes a large conference and banquet facility as well as a restaurant and 24-hour reception. It is the largest accommodation provider in New Zealand's northern most city.

The Kingsgate Hotel Hamilton has 147 guest rooms and boasts the city's biggest conferencing facility with capacity for up to 600 people.

Humphries says there has never been a better time to own a hotel asset in New Zealand.

"Tourism demand is running at record levels and annual international visitors have now exceeded three million people." The New Zealand tourism market and hotel sector is running at historically high growth levels. Occupancy in major tourism markets is surging to over 77 per cent and room rates across the country have increased 5 per cent in the past year.

This comes with a backdrop of a virtual hiatus of new hotel development that is creating greater demand and culminating in one of the strongest tourism markets in New Zealand for decades.

A falling kiwi dollar is only expected to add to this demand by attracting more tourists to the country in the short term."

Humphries says that growth in the tourism sector is not limited to the largest cities.

"We are also seeing increasing demand in many provincial cities such as Whangarei and Hamilton - both of which are satellite cities to Auckland, the international gateway to New Zealand."