The Pacifica Boutique Hotel, a planned new hotel for Auckland’s CBD which will occupy the first six floors of the 57-floor Pacifica Tower, is now for sale.
The hotel, at 10-12 Commerce St, is being marketed for developers Hengyi Pacific by Warren Hutt and Peter Hamilton of CBRE who are selling it by expressions of interest, closing 4pm on Monday June 18.
Hutt says with tourist numbers into Auckland rising constantly, and few hotels being created in Auckland’s CBD, the sale presents an exceptional opportunity for hotel investors and owner operators, in terms of its quality and its prime downtown location.
He believes that the Pacifica Boutique Hotel will redefine the quality of central city hotels in Auckland, bringing elegance and style right into the heart of the CBD.
“This will be a five-star minimum hotel, a top-end boutique offering. The hotel is a stone’s throw from Auckland’s waterfront and Britomart, and there is the opportunity to brand it to suit the high-end market.”
The hotel will have 35 rooms over six floors, from first to sixth floors, with generous room sizes ranging from 30sq m to 60sq m. There may also be an opportunity to add additional rooms by way of a management agreement over apartments within the tower.
Guests will have access to amenities including gym, swimming pool, sauna, spa, steam room and community terrace — all on level 7.
Hamilton sees many opportunities for the new owner to adapt and manage a number of elements within the offering.
“Firstly, they can fit the hotel out to their own preferences. Secondly, on the ground floor will be the dedicated hotel lobby and an opportunity for food and beverage offering facing Commerce St, which can also be acquired as part of the sale.
“Further, they have the opportunity to take on the overall concierge management of the tower, including the 1188sq m two-level super-premium penthouse on level 53 and 54, which is now being marketed internationally.
“We see this hotel being of real interest to local and international hotel owner operators, as well as the owners and operators of high-end lodges. This would give them a prime footprint in Auckland’s CBD to cater for guests arriving into New Zealand, before taking them on elsewhere into the country.
“The successful purchaser can also set up management agreements with individual apartment investors — so the opportunity to grow the number of keys within the building is definitely there.”
Hutt adds that construction of the tower is well underway and is due to be complete in late 2020, in time for the 2021 America’s Cup.
He says the sale will enable the new owner to capitalise on Auckland’s booming hotel market, which is being powered by rapidly rising international visitor numbers into New Zealand and limited new hotel supply.
“Auckland’s hotel market is consistently outperforming, both in terms of room rates and occupancy, due to a lack of new supply over a number of years resulting in a booming market for hotels.
“This is partly due to consistently rising international visitor numbers to New Zealand. We’ve seen annual increases almost every year since the 1990s. There were approximately 3.82 million visitor arrivals to New Zealand in the year to March 2018, up 7.8 percent from the previous year, and international visitor arrivals have increased on average by 8.5 percent p.a. since 2014.
“The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment forecasts international visitor arrivals to increase to 5.1m by 2024.
“While entering the booming hotel market, the buyer of the Pacifica Boutique Hotel will acquire an asset in a spectacular CBD location, comprising arguably the best apartment complex New Zealand will see.
By Warren Hutt, CBRE