The metamorphosis of Dunedin's Cargills Hotel is well under way and the building's new tenants expect to open two motels on the site in February.
The redeveloped Cargills Hotel site will house four separate businesses once it is complete - two motels, a restaurant and cafe.
The 51-room George St hotel closed in July after it was bought by Dunedin property developer Carl Angus.
Chris and Adrienne Roy and two other people will co-own the two motels, the 26-room Aurora on George a 4.5-star luxury motel, with a frontage on George St, and the 20-room 538 Great King Motel, a 4-star motel with its frontage on Great King St.
Mr Roy said extensive changes were being made to the building and it was exciting to be starting the motels almost from scratch.
This included a complete overhaul of all rooms and adding a lift to Aurora on George, Mr Roy said.
Steady progress had been made on the transformation since Cargills closed and the plan was for the two motels to open in late February.
About 16 staff would be employed in the two motels,
with additional staff at the cafe and restaurant, which had different tenants.
Splitting the site allowed them to target ‘‘slightly different'' markets with each motel.
Despite the recent opening of Distinction Hotel and the expansion of Victoria Hotel, the number of beds on offer in the city had not increased, he said.
‘‘The number of beds has not increased in the last five years.‘‘We are only replacing what has been lost in the last few years. We still haven't replaced [rooms lost with the closure of] Living Space, Abbey Lodge.''
They had a 30-year lease on all of the site, except the parts being used for a cafe and restaurant.
Mrs Roy said Cargills Hotel was ‘‘very tired'' at the time it closed.
The garden would largely be kept the same, including the cherry trees which provided a link to the site's original name, Cherry Court.
