SkyCity looks at selling carparks to build hotels, plans Queenstown expansion

SkyCity Entertainment Group chief executive Graeme Stephens. Photo / File

Auckland's biggest single-site, inner-city private carpark owner could sell more than 3000 spaces, investing the returns in a big new hotel development.

SkyCity Entertainment Group chief executive Graeme Stephens told more than 200 shareholders at today's annual meeting that development of further new hotels was a focus of the business, with funds coming partly from Auckland carpark sales.

SkyCity has 1960 parks below its Auckland casino/hotel site and another 1327 are being built across Hobson St beneath the NZ International Convention Centre site, giving it control of 3287 spaces in total.

Some city parking spaces have sold for more than $200,000 each, so SkyCity's spaces could be worth $300m or more, although no figures were provided and no numbers or valuations have been released.

Stephens said: "There's an opportunity to build another hotel, more residential" in Auckland. "We have made more purchases in this precinct".

The business is looking to "do more" in Queenstown, particularly to cater for international business, he said. Queenstown "we think needs one [hotel]" he said, and the business has extended its lease in Queenstown by three years. The lease was due to come up for renewal next year.

The sale of the Darwin property is "nearing conclusion" and work is well under way expanding Adelaide operations, Stephens told the meeting.

SkyCity is also continuing to explore "options in online casino business".

Little was said about the $700m-plus International Convention Centre development.

In response to a shareholder who asked about the $40m SkyCity is claiming from Fletcher Building, chairman Rob Campbell said: "It's a very sensitive area and I don't want to talk numbers."

Asked if a huge dentists' conference had been cancelled because of the project's late delivery, Campbell again said he could not comment but it would be 2020 before the convention centre was completed.