25-storey Templeton CBD development set to be Hamilton’s tallest building

Thursday, 3 April 2025

Auckland developer Templeton Group will be building the largest new hotel for Hamilton.

A 25-storey development by Templeton Group - combining a 218 bed hotel, apartments and dining precinct - is set to become Hamilton’s tallest building.

Auckland-headquartered Templeton and the city council announced on Thursday they’ve struck an unconditional deal with the city for the land next to Victoria on the River and promised to create an Auckland Viaduct-style hospitality precinct linking to the river.

The deal sees Templeton pay $6 million for council property at 242-254 Victoria St, Adjoining property at 260-266 Victoria St will be retained by the council and used to expand public space.

The new building’s still-to-be-finalised 25-storeys could be nearly double that of the current highest city building, the 13-storey Mistry Centre towering above Centre Place.

Unconditional - Hamilton City Council’s economic development committee chairperson Ewan Wilson (left), mayor Paula Southgate and Templeton Group founder Nigel McKenna are pleased to get the deal across the line.

In another boon for the CBD, the Mistry building is itself being redeveloped into a high-class, 191-bed Pullman hotel.

The council had been seeking a minimum of 10 floors in negotiations with Templeton.

Templeton Group have confirmed they will be build a potentially 25- floor hotel to the bottom left of Victoria on the River as pictured in Hamilton.

Templeton founder Nigel McKenna said in an interview at the site on Wednesday the new building could possibly be roughly “90-100 metres tall” but might be more or less depending on what the final design includes.

The Mistry by contrast is just over 50 metres high, a Waikato Times check has showed.

Replicating success in Waikato - Auckland’s Templeton Group founder Nigel McKenna says there are great opportunities presented by what’s described as a “transformational” project for Hamilton.

“At the end of the day it’s a tall tower largely because of the demand we’ve got for the things that deserve to be on site,” said McKenna.

And, in a joint statement with the council, he said: “We anticipate the new tower will in time become the epicentre of Hamilton’s central city with a tangible visual connection to the river against a backdrop of premium dining, hotel and accommodation experiences.

In red in this earlier council-supplied graphic is the area earmarked for the new hotel development while the yellow area will be open public space.

“Our proposal makes full use of the site and will contribute to Hamilton’s transformation to a big city.

“The development will open up and activate the riverfront area in a similar way to what I did in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour in the early 2000s, providing stunning views and creating a signature destination.”

The Mistry Centre in Ward St is Hamilton’s current tallest building. The Templeton development could be twice its height.

Earlier indications suggested a price tag of around $120 million for Templeton’s project but McKenna told the Waikato Times the current plan would cost more.

“We haven’t done the detailed budgets yet but it will exceed that…it’s a work in progress.”

He couldn’t confirm whether the hotel component of the proposal - which includes 10 floors with 218 rooms - would be four or five star at this stage.

Start or completion dates for the build were also unconfirmed.

However, Templeton - which is finalising preliminary designs - plans to lodge resource consent applications by the end of the year.

Templeton founder Nigel McKenna and his partner Sarisa Nasinprom are working to establish a luxury health and wellness spa in the new building.

McKenna said he expected a food and beverage section, with three levels of dining, would be extremely popular.

“This will be a multi-level dining precinct.”

Economic development committee chairperson Ewan Wilson and mayor Paula Southgate said ratepayers would gain some serious benefits from the deal.

With the involvement of his partner Sarisa Nasinprom, another feature of the development is due to be a luxury health and wellness spa, which McKenna said would be a first for the city.

Mayor Paula Southgate and economic development committee chairperson Ewan Wilson were extremely pleased at the deal with Templeton going unconditional, and believed it would deliver good value for ratepayers.

The council paid about $6.5 million in 2018 for the properties from 242-266 Victoria St.

The latest deal sees the council paid $6 million for the 242-254 section (which cost $3.75 in 2018) and will get a share of the new development’s profits.

The 260-266 Victoria St buildings to be demolished for public space cost some $2.74 million.

“Council is expected to see a significant return on investment from the sale of the land, as well as extending Hamilton’s iconic Victoria on the River space,” the statement said.

Wilson felt ratepayers would get a good financial benefit over time from the deal, as well as the development creating jobs and boosting the city’s economy.

“We are about to be one hell of a host city.”

Southgate - who had voted against the original purchase of the properties on price and other grounds - said she was pleased at the new arrangement.

“This is quite a different proposition.

“We have turned really good events away because we haven’t had sufficient accommodation. This changes all that.”

The profit share component of the deal was seen as a clear signal to other developers that the council was open to this type of arrangement to help get projects across the line.

A study has previously shown that Hamilton needed 497 extra hotel beds by 2030.

The 191 Pullman rooms, Templeton’s planned 218, and another 128 due at a planned hotel at the corner of Ruakura and Peachgrove Rd gives a total of 537 new beds due on stream in coming years.

But Wilson noted the 497 figure didn’t take account of the resumption of international flights into Hamilton by Jetstar, starting in June.

The council notes the city and region are experiencing significant economic and population growth and the flights mean demand for hotel rooms will continue to grow.

Wilson described the Templeton development as “a once in a generation transformational occurrence”.

Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief executive Don Good strongly welcomed the unconditional deal.

Sports fans from outside the region coming here for events have been “forced for years to find accommodation as far afield as Tauranga, Rotorua, or resort to driving daily from Auckland”.

Templeton’s project would help stop that happening.

The Templeton development simply reinforces just how positively very smart and canny investors view the benefits of in investing in the Waikato,” Good said in a statement.