Argus joins in $40M hotel plan

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 41

Argus joins in $40M hotel plan

PA Wellington Auckland-based property developer, Argus Corporation, Ltd, and

Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation have announced a $4O million tourist hotel development for Queenstown. The hotel will be developed by Argus and managed by SPHC, they said in a statement. The 200-room hotel complex will include convention space for 200 people, health club, enclosed swimming pool, sauna and spa facilities. SPHC’s regional director, Mr Tim Stableforth, said the growth in visitor numbers to Queenstown had been constrained by the difficulties of access, and more recently, the lack of adequate high quality tourist accommodation. “We feel that the planned improvements in air services from Auckland will ease the flow of visitors around New Zealand and open up the southern lakes area to increased numbers of domestic travellers,” he said. Construction of the new

hotel will start in mid--1987, with completion scheduled for 1989. Argus executive director, Mr Bruce Taylor, said the development will create jobs for 150 people in Queenstown during the construction phase and 200 upon completion. And Argus directors announced at the company’s annual meeting in Auckland that the company has agreed to purchase the 2389 square metre Grand Hotel site in Princes Street, Auckland. The site includes the areas now occupied by the Grand Hotel building, the former Freemason’s Hall and No. 1 Bankside Street. A 130,000 sq ft complex proposed for the site will incorporate the facades of the Grand Hotel building and the Freemason’s Hall, and the cottage at No. 1 Bankside Street. The cottage at No. 1 Bankside, which is to be purchased from the Auckland City Council and restored, was built in the 1840 s.