Large hotel deal inked downtown
The 4.5-star Waldorf Stadium Apartment Hotel located in the heart of Auckland CBD has sold to Malaysian-owned Mulpha Group.
The sale price is confidential but real estate sources say the price may be about $50 million to $60m.
The hotel, with 178 units, was owned for many years by private Australian investors who have sold to Mulpha Group, based in Australia and owned by Mulpha International Bhd, Malaysia’s largest real estate investor and developer in Australia, according to the Mulpha website.
Mulpha has bought the hotel building, the company’s first hotel purchase in New Zealand.
The land on which it stands is owned by Nga¯ ti Wha¯ tua o O¯ ra¯ kei, which leases the ground to the hotel owner.
Mulpha’s assets in Australia include Hayman Island, Bimbadgen Estate, and InterContinental Hotels in Sydney and Sanctuary Cove.
Built in 2008, the Waldorf is located in downtown Auckland close to the harbour, the 12,000-capacity Spark Arena and the Britomart precinct, and it is just 500 metres from Queen St, the city’s main commercial and retail thoroughfare.
The hotel comprises a mix of studio, one-, two- and threebedroom fully self-contained apartments.
Colliers International and CBRE announced the sale following an international sales campaign that attracted mainly overseas investors.
The hotel is run by the Waldorf brand, owned by Japanese conglomerate Daiwa House Group, and it will continue to run the hotel. Daiwa acquired the Australia and New Zealand Waldorf serviced apartment business in 2017, with further plans to expand in the region.
Mulpha chief executive Greg Shaw said the strong underlying fundamentals driving the New Zealand tourism and hotel sectors were some of the main reasons Mulpha was investing in the New Zealand hotel sector.
‘‘In terms of the Waldorf Stadium Hotel, we were attracted to its position in a key gateway city, strategic location in the heart of the Auckland CBD, together with several strategic opportunities to add additional value to this asset over the short to medium term working in conjunction with the hotel operator, Daiwa House Group.’’
Dean Humphries, Colliers’ national director of hotels, said the transaction was the first major hotel sale in Auckland’s CBD since the Hilton Auckland sold in 2012.
It was also the largest hotel transaction in Auckland in 12 years since the Carlton on Mayoral Drive sold for $113m in late 2006.
Hotels were tightly held and sold infrequently, he said.
Wayne Bunz, national director of CBRE Hotels, said hotels were predominantly held by long-term investors.
‘‘This is the largest transaction in New Zealand since CBRE and Colliers International sold the Novotel Queenstown in 2015 at NZ$91.3m.’’