Plans for the five-star Quay West Resort Queenstown hotel, costing between $80 million and $100 million, were announced yesterday. The hotel will be managed by Australian management company Mirvac Hotels and Resorts as part of its international chain.
The new hotel will have 195 one- to three-bedroom apartment-style guest rooms, as well as meeting space, a restaurant and bar, day spa, gym and swimming pool, it was announced yesterday.
Construction was expected to begin in the middle of next year and be completed in mid-2011.
The hotel is the third international brand to be confirmed for the Kawarau Falls Station development, following earlier announcements of an InterContinental Hotel, with 221 rooms and suites, in July last year, and a five-star, 177-room Westin Hotel, in November 2006.
A total of four hotels are planned as part of the resort, which is being developed by Melview Developments on the site of the former Kawarau Falls Lakeside Holiday Park at the Lake Wakatipu outlet.
The 6.4ha site, the only north-facing high-density residential site in Queenstown, will have 1100 units and 13 buildings, boulevard-style streets, restaurants and parks, when completed in 2011. Details of the fourth hotel, Melview's own brand Quadrant, are yet to be released.
Melview founder and managing director Nigel McKenna said the Quay West Resort development would bring to 593 the number of five-star hotel rooms planned for the resort.
The addition of the Quay West brand would provide a "further boost'' for Queenstown's tourism market, he believed.
"The fact that international world-class hotel brands are signing up is a confirmation of Queenstown's international appeal and recognition as a top tourist destination.
"The Quay West property is an important step in the market positioning of the Kawarau Falls Station development and will ensure the highest occupancy rates and returns.''
The Kawarau Falls development's first hotel due for completion was the Westin Queenstown, expected to be finished next year. The Intercontinental and Quadrant hotels were expected to begin construction later this year and be completed in 2010.
Kawarau Falls Station was originally owned by Queenstown founder William Rees, who established the first buildings on the site in 1864, and made it his base for many years.
