New hotel for city ‘ready to go’
Whangārei mayor hails agreement with global chain to buy land for 4-star hotel
Plans for a high-quality hotel in central Whangārei have been resurrected by a major international hotel chain. Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand has entered a conditional agreement with Whangārei District Council to buy the land on 8 to 10 Dent St for hotel development.
The $2.24 million sale — on what is colloquially known as Fire Brigade Hill — is conditional on due diligence.
The same company entered into a conditional deal to buy the same site off the council in 2019 but pulled out in 2021, citing the change in the tourism and accommodation sectors after the Covid-19 pandemic.
But mayor Vince Cocurullo is convinced Millennium Copthorne is ready to go this time.
“It was all around the Covid time and that was why they [the company] didn’t want to go any further. But they are committed 100 per cent so it’s all ready to go — they just needed the time to check everything.”
He believed Whangārei’s current growth, its cruise ship market and the Hundertwasser Art Centre are all part of making the city a viable option for such a hotel.
“It’s the best thing we can possibly ask for and hopefully there’s more to come.”
The site used to include the iconic Almond Court flats but they were demolished in October 2023 after council investigations found costs to renovate them would be far greater than any likely return on investment.
Key architectural features of the Almond Court Flats — including windows, trims, doors, ceiling roses and bricks — were removed for reuse before the site was cleared.
An early childhood centre also on the site was removed in 2019.
Cocurullo said Millennium Copthorne’s plans were for a four or four-and-a-half star hotel with about 100 beds.
“The big thing for us is the four to four-and-a-half star rating, so this allows for a lot of those tourists wanting that sort of accommodation to be based here in Whangārei; it’s something that we don’t have at present.”
The site has been earmarked for a hotel since 2012 and the proposed development is unlikely to need resource consent, just a straightforward building consent, Cocurullo said.
The price was market-value for the prime CBD site, he said.
If the sale goes through, the money would go into the council’s commercial property portfolio, which the council is considering how to manage as part of its Long Term Plan consultation.
Millennium Copthorne has hotels in 80 different destinations across the globe, including Copthorne Hotel and Resort Bay of Islands in Waitangi and Kingsgate Hotel in Paihia.