Hamilton riverside sky-scraper plans hit crunch point
Monday, 8 June 2026
Both the developer behind grandiose hotel plans and Hamilton City Council say they expect ‘positive’ progress as they prepare for crunch talks this week.
On Thursday, Auckland-based Templeton Group is due to update city leaders on its plans to build a 25-storey luxury hotel complex, which have been in the works since the council entered an unconditional agreement to sell Templeton Group land and property at Victoria Street in April, 2025.
The properties at 242 – 254 Victoria Street cost the council $3.75m in 2018.
Under terms of the land deal, HCC will sell these properties to Templeton Group for $6m, plus a share in the development profits.
Since then, things have been quiet with a resource consent still not lodged.
However, speaking to the Waikato Times in a rare interview, Templeton Group founder Nigel McKenna says that’s quite normal.
He revealed that was partly because detailed resource consents plans will not be submitted until the group has decided on a winning submission from one of “a large number’’ of five-star hotel operator brands to take on the daily running of the admittedly “audacious’’ $100 million hotel.
“It's got two levels of basement car park, it's got three levels of hospitality.
“It’s got a 200-room international five star hotel, a world-class health and wellness bar, 40 branded residences and a rooftop sky bar. You know, it's a very large, complex project.
“This is not a normal low or even mid-rise building. This is a high-rise tower which puts it in a totally different league.
“I am one of the few New Zealand developers that have built high rise residential mixed use towers and one of only two or three that I know that have built multiple high-rise buildings of this nature.’’
Demolition of the existing, still tenanted buildings on the site is scheduled for September, 2028.
Before that there was already a huge amount of work underway, he said.
“There is a team of over a dozen different consultants doing an enormous amount of work on everything from geotechnical analysis, fire egress, and traffic engineering, to architectural, services, structural engineering, and interior design.
“We are fully, if not slightly ahead, of programme.’’
McKenna says he understands it might be hard for some to conceive the sheer scale of the project.
“This is a ground breaking project for Hamilton.
“The ambition is not small. This will be a tower for the future generations. It will take time and it needs to be better than good. It will last for several hundreds of years.
“It’s not a consumable item that can easily be replaced. ”You can recover from a bad meal. A bad haircut grows back in a few weeks. This building will survive for generations.’’
The group, which has 18 development projects on its books, is fully compliant with its obligations.
The Waikato Times pressed Mayor Tim Macindoe for his view on the project status and if the $6m deal was a good one for ratepayers but he declined to comment.
However, McKenna assured that the council did get a good deal on both the property sale and the profit-share agreement.
“The site was acquired at a point in time where in today’s dollars that was a very good deal for Council.
“There is no financial risk to Hamilton City Council or ratepayers. All financial costs and risks are borne by us.
Templeton has already spent in excess of $1 million on project costs.’’
HCC strategic property manager Nicolas Wells confirmed under the terms of the deal, Templeton Group has a five-year time-frame for development.
Templeton Group will reveal more details at a closed-doors meeting with the council’s Growth and Economic development Committee on Thursday.
Committee chair Maria Huata told the Waikato Times she would be happy to talk after the meeting.
Committee member Andrew Bydder told the Waikato Times the meeting had been described to councillors as an “update’’ but had no further details.
He expected it would be to confirm if the project would go ahead or not as there had been “genuine uncertainty’’ that the overarching economic situation was not conducive to such a major project.
“So, the council certainly wants it to happen,’’ Bydder said.
Deputy Mayor Geoff Taylor also said the meeting was “just an update’’.
On Tuesday, Templeton group announced early-stage plans for new landmark hotel on Rotorua’s lakefront, after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Pukeroa Lakefront Holdings Limited (Pukeroa).
Templeton Group is also in the running to take on another massive task in Ruapehu’s Chateau Tongariro redevelopment.
McKenna indicated the Hamilton project would not be a lower priority than other of the group’s projects.
McKenna is “fully confident’’ in the group’s Hamilton plans and committed to the five to six year time-scale.
“It will get built,’’ he said.
As reported by Newsroom, the Department of Conservation (DOC) is harbouring 'serious nervousness' about a bid from Templeton Group to restore the nationally-significant but near-derelict Chateau Tongariro, pinning its hesitation on Templeton Group’s plans for Hamilton.
Although Templeton Group has been named the 'preferred proposal' out of 13 bids to redevelop the DOC-owned iconic heritage hotel, Newsroom reports that government officials have internal 'concerns as to when they might be able to deliver the Chateau,’’ given ongoing delays with the group’s Hamilton plans.
The Waikato Times approached DOC for comment but was told the department could not comment on matters relating to any proposals about Chateau Tongariro as the RFP to restore the 1920s hotel has not been concluded.