More to new Sebel hotel than meets eye

From the street the hotel and apartment complex looks like a long procession of concrete blocks.
But there's more to it than meets the eye.
Behind the builder's fence on Tauranga's Dive Crescent the new 120-room Sebel Trinity Wharf is taking shape in castle-like proportions.
The aerial view shows the interesting pentagonal form of the $30 million development, due to be completed in August.
The large triangular space in the centre will be used as a circular drive to the main foyer of the hotel. In the middle of the sweeping entrance will be a large landscaped garden, 30m long and 15m wide.
The pier, closest to Dive Crescent, houses a single-storeyed, split level bar and restaurant, taking 110 diners inside and another 110 on the three-sided deck.
Immediately to the right of the bar, back on land, is the lounge and check-in area. At the back of the restaurant and kitchen on the first floor are two of the 15 luxury apartments.
To the left of the pier and even closer to Dive Crescent is one of the two conference areas, which can be partitioned into three rooms. Above the 360 sq m conference room is another apartment.
The middle pier comprises three premier hotel suites that have a separate lounge and bedroom and a large en suite including a spa bath.
To the right of the hammerhead pier, back on land, is the 11m long, 4m wide lap pool that connects with the second conference area, which can be divided into two rooms. The two conference facilities can take up to 300 people and the hotel management has already booked a conference for 80 delegates in October.
The third pier, on the right, contains 16 hotel rooms over two levels, including two more premier suites in the front closest to the harbour bridge.
Standing in them, behind the laminated glass sliding doors, you cannot hear the traffic noise from the bridge. ``The noise just seems to drift over the building,'' says developer Geoff Payne.
The standard hotel rooms continue along three levels of the northern wing (one floor is still to be filled in) next to the pohutukawa trees. The other rooms are located on the second level along the spine of the building behind the three piers.
The remaining 12 apartments _ which are all sold _ will be built on the third level of the spine. The apartment owners have their own entrances.
At the Dive Crescent end of the northern wing is a ground floor covered carpark taking 22 vehicles. If the hotel was allowed to be expanded, this area could be converted into another 15 rooms.
The basement takes another 58 carparks and a gymnasium. And the remainder of the 178 carparks are spread around the building.
Mirvac Hotels and Resorts, which operates the Sebel brand, is working toward a September opening for Tauranga's newest hotel.
Sebel Trinity Wharf will be the first internationally branded hotel in the Western Bay and will particularly chase the corporate business.
It is Mirvac's third New Zealand hotel, after The Sebel Suites and Quay West Suites in Auckland.