Receivers put lodge on market
A LUXURY lodge and conference centre near Hanmer Springs has been put up for receivership sale.
The property, Braemar Lodge and Spa, is on a 1.1-hectare site in Medway Rd on the outskirts of the alpine town. Owner Braemar Lodge (2004) Ltd was placed in receivership partway through a $16 million redevelopment in 2007, owing money to about 45 creditors and with a $10m mortgage to ANZ Bank and a smaller mortgage to Strategic Finance.
The company’s owners were Christchurch-based property developers Neil Dougan and Ross Thomson. The pair left New Zealand after the Hanmer project and many others, including the Te Kaikoura hotel development, struck financial trouble, leaving behind large debts.
The Hanmer lodge was reopened in 2008 by the receivers and is still in business. It is managed by Sydneybased premium hotel operator Select Hotels and Resorts.
Philip Cooper, of Colliers International, who is marketing the lodge for receivers KordaMentha, said a new owner could continue operating the business under the existing management agreement or do something else with the business and property.
The lodge has 24 units on separate titles, a bar and restaurant and conference and meeting facilities, a healing centre with treatment rooms, and separate staff accommodation.
Tenders for the lodge close November.
in