Developers show interest in harbour hotel plan

Gary Kircher.
Gary Kircher.
The Waitaki District Council has been approached by three developers interested in building hotel accommodation at Oamaru Harbour.

Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said while there was a portion of land on Cape Wanbrow overlooking the quarry, which the council had earmarked as a potential site for hotel development, the interest so far had been in the council-owned land at the corner of the Esplanade and Waterfront Rd.

"We're locking up land around the harbour so it doesn't get developed, and that's kind of the one piece,'' Mr Kircher said.

Further, there was an identified need to increase Oamaru's visitor accommodation capacity during peak periods.

What was not yet fully understood was just how great the need for added accommodation was.

The Waitaki District Council was speaking to a consultant who could conduct a market analysis and assist in putting a business plan in place.

"Anecdotally there is a problem: we want to know how big a problem there is; and what the solution is to that; and also looking forward . . . how big is that problem going to get,'' Mr Kircher said.

"What we need is to get a good solid study that says, 'This is what the demand is, and this is how to meet it,' as in the type of accommodation, what star rating, how many rooms in one place. Because we've got quite a lot of rooms, and we've got quite a lot of good quality amongst them, but there's not always enough in one place.''

He said the interest from developers could pre-empt a business case, to a degree, as the council would continue to "explore'' the proposals.

"We've got people who are wanting to get on and do something,'' Mr Kircher said.

"There's some serious discussions going on. We've got people coming to us and wanting to do things.''

The discussions had not progressed far enough that he had seen any concrete proposals.

Mr Kircher said he had not seen any detailed proposals, or plans. Neither would he speak about the interested parties in specific terms. But he would say there was a local interested in pursuing a development, one developer had ties to the local community and one developer was an "outsider''.

He estimated the size of the developments that had been brought to the council to be in the $10million range.

With 50 rooms, the Brydone Hotel was the largest hotel accommodation provider in Oamaru at present, and the council would remain "mindful of other providers''.

The council would be interested in potential accommodation providers that could "add to the mix''.

Council staff were "drawing up criteria for potential investors'' to adhere to.

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz

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