Australians selling Auckland hotel on Māori leasehold land

Ex-Waldorf Stadium Apartment Hotel, now branded Nesuto - for sale. Photo / Alex Burton

The Australian owners of a large Auckland hotel which stands on Māori leasehold land are selling up.

But the buyer only gets the building, not the land.

Dean Humphries, Colliers' national hotel director, said the Nesuto Stadium Hotel and Apartments is for sale.

"A key message is that this is the largest and first hotel in Auckland to be publicly offered for sale since 2018 when it last sold to its owners as the Waldorf Stadium Hotel."

The 244-room 4.5-star property at 40 Beach Rd was built in 2008 as 178 strata-titled apartments.

The owners are selling the building near the Spark Arena.

It is on a site owned by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Whai Rawa. The annual ground rent is reviewed about every five years. The Māori entity earns millions annually in leasing the land around the waterfront.

Auckland Council's rating valuation on 40 Beach Rd is $75 million, including $18.2m land. That incurs a $478,000/year rates bill.

The building was converted to serviced apartments for short and long stays.

In 2019 and 2020, the owners converted some of the larger units into dual hotel rooms.

That resulted in 100 self-contained one and two-bedroom apartments and 144 hotel rooms.

A new restaurant and conference area was built and mechanical and service facilities were upgraded.

Humphries said the building's replacement cost would exceed $100m.

The Herald reported in 2018 how the same building has sold to Australian-based Mulpha Group.

Greg Shaw, Mulpha chief executive, said four years ago that New Zealand's tourism and hotel sectors had strong underlying fundamentals which was why the business bought here.

The hotel was built in 2008 near the 12,000-person capacity Spark arena and has studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments.

When it was last advertised in 2018, Humphries said it was the first major hotel sale in the Auckland CBD since the Hilton Auckland sold in 2012.

The price back then was speculated to be $50m to $60m although no figure could be put on the 2018 deal.

It also cited the leasehold land when it described the Auckland hotel.

"Acquired by Mulpha in 2018, the hotel comprises a mix of studio, one, two and three bedroom fully self-contained apartments and is situated on a prime parcel of land, which is subject to a long-term ground lease to one of Auckland's largest inner-city land owners," that business says.

Mulpha's corporate office is based in Sydney's heritage-listed Transport House, built in 1938.

In Malaysia, it holds strategic stakes in Thriven Global Berhad, formerly known as Mulpha Land Berhad, and is the developer of the award-winning 1765 acre Leisure Farm, Iskandar.

In Britain, it has an investment in London Marriott Grosvenor Square, a landmark property in the heart of Mayfair.