Peppers is a red-hot buy

Peppers Martinborough Hotel sits on a freehold site with four road frontages. Photo / Supplied

One of Martinborough's most historic businesses and a central focal point of the town, the Peppers Martinborough Hotel at 10 Memorial Square, is for sale.

The 16-room boutique hotel is an established tourism destination in the heart of Martinborough and is being marketed by Colliers International brokers Michelle Spiers and Peter Wilkin for $2.95 million, plus any GST.

"This is an opportunity to buy the building, provide and service the hotel's accommodation business and receive income from the independent bar and restaurant," said Wilkin.

The hotel was built in 1882 by developer Edmund Buckeridge, who modestly described it when it opened for business as "one of the finest hostelries ever erected in any inland town in New Zealand".

Wilkin says the hotel's facade has been a focal point for Martinborough since it was built.

"It takes pride of place at the entrance to the town's main square. The building was fully restored in 1996 by present owners Mike and Sally Laven at a cost of $2 million and it now provides a top quality hotel that offers character, comfort and old-style personal attention."

The building sits on a freehold 3465sq m site with four road frontages - to Memorial Square, Texas, Ohio and Kitchener Sts - and has a large carpark at the rear of the buildings.

The hotel has 16 guest rooms, a 90-seat restaurant and public bar, enjoying a mix of income from accommodation, food and beverage, with contributions from conferences, weddings and functions operation.

"In 2000, five new rooms were built to cater for group and conference business," says Speirs.

"Further improvements were made in 2003 when the conference and function rooms were expanded ..."

In 2005, The Martinborough Hotel joined Peppers Retreats and Resorts, a member of the Mantra Group.

"This provides both a marketing and sales network and resource opportunities, including growth in international business and potential to mix business income," Speirs says.

Total revenue from the hotel in the period between November 2008 to October 2009 was $629,216 plus GST, with a net cashflow (ebitda) figure of $231,755 plus GST, with projected net annual income of $252,000, plus GST for this financial year.

As part of the business, a contract has been put in place with Settlers Limited to provide food and beverage services at the hotel.

"This is a great hotel business that will provide the buyer with a lifestyle business in a prosperous wine community within an hour's commuting distance to Wellington," Speirs says.

The Peppers Martinborough Hotel property is zoned Town Centre, which incorporates the commercial activities of Martinborough. The town was named after John Martin (1822-92), an Irish immigrant who purchased the large Wairarapa sheep station Huangarua in 1879.

Martin subdivided the station into 593 sections to create a town just north of the existing settlement of Waihenga, where there was a post office, school, church and hotels and a ferry over the Ruamahanga River.

In a gesture of patriotism, he laid the streets out in the shape of a Union Jack, and called them after places he had visited on his world travels.

Martinborough is now well-known for the burgeoning wine industry, which brings in a steady stream of weekend and holiday visitors from Wellington as well as overseas tourists from all parts of the world.

Speirs says the area has benefited from the development of the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail, a 380km touring route that connects the wine regions of Hawkes Bay, Martinborough and Marlborough.

"Over 50 per cent of the guests at Peppers Martinborough Hotel are international visitors and many are travelling along the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail," Spiers says.

"With its great international reputation, we expect the hotel to do very well during the 2011 Rugby World Cup."

The town also hosts the major annual "Toast Martinborough" wine and food festival, an event attended by up to 10,000 people.