Auckland viaduct hotel plans to be unveiled

Details of the Auckland waterfront hotel proposal will be announced tomorrow.

The focus will go on plans for Auckland's new $200 million luxury waterfront hotel tomorrow when China's President, Xi Jinping, and Prime Minister John Key announce new details of the Wynyard Quarter deal.

Chiefs of the billionaire developers behind it, Fu Wah International Group, will also jet in for the event in the morning.

The 200-room hotel will be built on 5500sq m of land owned by Waterfront Auckland on behalf of the Auckland Council and will rise on the old Team New Zealand headquarters on Halsey St, near ASB North Wharf.

Waterfront Auckland has sent out invites. The organisation announced in April that Beijing-based Fu Wah would build the hotel.

Fu Wah's chairwoman, Madam Chan Lawai, and president, Chiu Yung, as well as representatives from the hotel's new manager and Waterfront Auckland, will be at the announcement.

Fu Wah won the right to build over a rival tender by Willis Bond and mayor Len Brown said the hotel would be completed by 2017 and was a sign of the Auckland economy's resurgence.

John Dalzell, Waterfront Auckland chief executive, said the hotel would be a key component of the area's revitalisation and "a key step to creating a city with world-class, sustainable design." It would also attract high-net-worth visitors to Auckland and provide many other benefits like employment and public amenities, he said.

"Fu Wah Group has a strong track record in developing high-end real estate and the new Auckland site builds on its regional hotel portfolio having recently purchased the Park Hyatt hotel in Melbourne.

"Significant economic benefits are expected from the construction and ongoing operation of the hotel, in addition to the lease payment by the developer. Furthermore, as part of the build, a new section of Auckland's waterfront alongside Viaduct Harbour is being opened up for public use," Waterfront Auckland said.

"It is estimated that during construction the hotel will create more than 1300 full-time-equivalent jobs and add more than $100 million to Auckland's GDP and more than 750 full-time-equivalent jobs and more than $50 million to regional GDP per annum once completed," the organisation said.