Kiwi Experience founder spearheading hotel development in Wanaka

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

A street view of the proposed lodge on Brownston St.

A prefabricated luxury hotel destined for Wanaka is the brainchild of backpacker entrepreneur Andrew McIntosh.

McIntosh founded Kiwi Experience and Awesome Adventures before moving to Sydney in 2000.

A artist impression of the proposed Brownston St lodge, as viewed from the New World Supermarket car park.

The businessman is spearheading the 33 room hotel on a vacant 1012-square metre site on Brownston St, next to Wanaka New World Supermarket.

The building modules are being constructed in Cromwell by head contractor Climate House and will be craned on to the site in October. The lodge is scheduled to open in November.

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The two-level hotel is for sale with real estate agent John Binning of JLL Auckland.

However, B Hotel Group wants to be the long term lessee for 10 years, with the right to renew for another 10 years.

Expressions of interest closed on July 3. Binning said it could be between two and four weeks before a successful bid was announced.

McIntosh, the sole director and shareholder of B Property Group Ltd, said he wanted 'to keep a low profile and have the brand and business be the representation of the business rather than myself personally'.

The design by Pavilion Architects incorporates passive house building performance principles.

The 33 accommodation 'pods' will be 6.6 metres by 3.65m in size. Separate buildings will contain lounges and kitchens.

Materials include structural insulated panels and low impact, steel pile foundations.

Among the 'many reasons' for building off site were reductions in construction time and risk, McIntosh said.

'There are no external weather problems as the modules are built in factory and [fewer] construction delays occur as sub contractors are not required,' he said.

'The costs are often below normal build costs. Prefabrication also gives a lot more cost certainty which is difficult in these boom building times in New Zealand.'

The consenting process is no different to that for any other building but a system of logging and photographing the units as they are built will be submitted to the local council instead of normal site inspections.

There will be no carparks. McIntosh said most guests would come by coach and there was a large public car park less than 50m away.

The hotel will provide guests with free mountain bikes, electric bikes and paddle boards.

B Hotel wanted to capture opportunities in New Zealand's growing tourism sector, particularly in Wanaka and Queenstown.

Up to 4.5 million people are expected to visit the country each year by 2022, while visitor spending will reach $16.6 billion, according to Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment forecasts.

Wanaka's hotel industry has grown from 167,497 hotel guest nights in 2014 to 199,810 in 2016 – a rise of 19 per cent.

Financial forecasts revealed the 67 Brownston St landlord could expect to earn $615,000 a year in rent from the leaseholder.

The leaseholder would need to earn 1 per cent of Wanaka's market share (Wanaka has about 765,000 annual guest nights) in their first year, increasing to 1.16 per cent by their fifth year, to meet the financial forecasts.