The following link contains a recent Bloomberg press release from Friday on the proposed Wolfe Hotel for downtown Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland. This article is available for a few days to all readers: Bloomberg Article

This first project represents a proposed new 5-star luxury hotel to be managed by a world-renowned hotel operator. Queen City Law is representing the developer of the project and was involved in obtaining the approval of Invest NZ for the project.

The developer is a subsidiary of one of New Zealand’s largest high-rise developers, Conrad Property Group. This company has successfully delivered several thousand residential and commercial units in New Zealand over the last two decades.

Investment is being sought from commercial property investors, local high net worths and those who have submitted or are successfully holding an approval in principle under the Active Investor Plus category of New Zealand government’s immigration program.

Queen City Law has been marketing the project among other specialised law firms and some select licensed immigration advisors (LIAs) but is also pitching the investment opportunity directly to those who have submitted an Active Investor Plus application or have been approved in principle. The developer is providing an expected return of 3% over the first 5-year term and further details are available in the above Bloomberg article (this is not paywalled for 5 days and is available in PDF format, subject to copyright considerations). Further inducements include the offer to pay the INZ non-refundable application fee of NZD $27,470 and make a $30,000 contribution towards professional immigration practitioner fees for those who lock into the project.

The development site is a stone’s throw from Precinct Properties proposed new multibillion dollar downtown development and within skipping distance of the PWC Building and Commercial Bay. In the surrounding area, the Spark Building was sold for over $500M, half of the Commercial Bay property was recently sold for some $600M, Indigo Hotel was sold for in excess of $150M, and the Intercontinental Hotel was sold to Singaporean interests for $180M.

Once the 3-year investment term is complete, investors can sell the units and their shares in the hotel management company. The strata titles in freehold are commercial units so Overseas Investment Office consent is not required and the transaction is treated as zero rated for GST purposes.

Messrs. Hutchens and Dearlove who are development managers for the project have been considering how to shed a ray of development sunshine on an otherwise bleak development landscape (with virtually no cranes currently on the horizon of Auckland’s CBD). Additionally, there are significant downstream economic benefits that flow from new high-rise construction. Ben and Jamie considered the provisions of the infrastructure, projects and tourism categories contained under the Growth option of the AIP programme. The proposed Wolfe Hotel encompasses this and investors will take some comfort in dealing with a team who are widely considered to be amongst the most experienced high-rise developers in the country.

One of the most poignant observations discerned from NZ’s AIP investor groups has been a desire to be involved in tourism projects that investors could see and touch and feel. They want to feel collective pride in the successful execution of a new hotel project even in turbulent economic times. They become connected and part of New Zealand.

Where the rubber meets the road, Auckland will be the beneficiary of new downtown tourism projects that would not get out of the ground without the impetus of new immigrants selecting such investment options under the AIP program. Despite all the immigration rhetoric, the truth is that New Zealand has been a country of migrants since the arrival of Kupe. We are hoping this will be the first of many successful development projects adding all sorts of value to Aotearoa New Zealand.

And all that with a stunning rooftop infinity pool to boot.