Plan to turn iconic hotel into upmarket pub still going ahead
By NIKKI PRESTON - Waikato Times | Saturday, 06 December 2008Work to transform the iconic National Hotel in Cambridge into an upmarket pub will resume next year, after the tenant "disappeared", leaving Auckland developer Symphony Projects to pick up the pieces.
"We had a tenant go broke on us.
"He ripped out the inside of the pub and owes money to creditor, including us," Tim Wilson, a partner at Symphony Projects, said.
Symphony has recently been given the legal rights to regain control of the project, despite the site being abandoned by the former tenant, a Whakatane businessman, six months ago.
Symphony had planned to get the bar running by Christmas, but Mr Wilson said the idea had been shelved because it would have meant that they were making decisions based solely on time, and it would not have necessarily been the best long-term decision.
It now plans to open in April, and will run it as part of its bar portfolio.
Symphony also owns bars in Palmerston North and Christchurch.
Waipa district deputy mayor Peter Lee supported the completion of the National Hotel, although he still stood by his comments last year that it was an "eyesore" that was dubbed as an "ugly building" by Hamilton City Councillor Gordon Chesterman.
"We are the ones that have to live in town and see them everyday," Mr Lee said.
"They can come from Auckland with architects to design something like that and sell them and move on and we are the ones left with the building."
Meanwhile, the block of four retail units part of the hotel building, three of which are leased for about $40,000 a year, is to be auctioned next Wednesday.
Mr Lee said he would watch the results of the auction with interest as he believed the rents paid by Noodle Canteen, Mings Outlet and Cambridge Property were higher than the normal rent paid in the town.
CBRE managing director, Theo de Leeuw, who is marketing the properties, disagreed.
He said the rents were about the current market value and reflected that they were new buildings.
Mr Leeuw said there had been interest from Cambridge property investors and he was quietly confident they would sell because they were in a good location.
Mr Wilson said it had always been Symphony's plan to sell the lower block in the development, but retain the upper level.
He had no plans at this stage to sell the National Hotel or the remaining five shops with tenants such as Justify and Furniture Court.