Luxury Hamilton hotel gets the go-ahead

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Construction of SkyCity Hamilton’s new $35 million 4.5-star hotel will begin by the end of the year, and the luxury 135-room facility will be completed at the end of 2014.
After three years of planning, SkyCity Entertainment Group has been granted board approval to build the three-storey hotel on top of the existing casino complex on Victoria St.

The facility will include a five-lane swimming pool, a gym and sauna room, eight luxury duplex suites 8 sq m in size, 16 large suites with balconies facing the river, and 111 standard rooms decorated in a similar style to SkyCity Auckland’s hotels.

There will be a grand atrium with a water feature in the centre of the hotel complex, and the geodesic dome at the front of the building will be retained.
The hotel entrance will be at the lower ground floor level near the casino’s car park entrance on Alma St.

Strong growth
SkyCity Hamilton general manager Arthur Pitcher says the Hamilton business has experienced strong growth, particularly in the Asian market, for the past three to four years.
He is excited the hotel is finally underway, and would enable the casino to accommodate its VIP and international clients.

“We are seeing a rapid increase in Asian business in the Hamilton casino, and we want to be able to service it properly,” he says.
“A lot of the VIP business happens at the weekend and a lot of the conferences in the town happen midweek, so it probably fits quite well.”

Hotel shortage
The development will also address the perceived shortage of hotel accommodation in Hamilton which has been blamed for the council’s Claudelands Event Centre losing business.
The new hotel will boost the number of hotels in the CBD from two to three.

Meanwhile, SkyCity was in negotiations with McConnell Property over whether its planned three-storey food and beverage precinct on the Victoria on the River site would be developed at the same time as a four-storey office block the Auckland-based developer is planning.

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