Parnell lodge fire: Business association previously raised concerns about residents’ activities

The Parnell Business Association says one of the area’s biggest sources of crime comes from the “range and proliferation” of supported accommodation.

General manager Cheryl Adamson said the City Garden Lodge, which was badly damaged in a fire on Sunday, is one of two providers located in close proximity that initially offered emergency accommodation and more recently transitional accommodation.

She said issues with the providers were exacerbated by the accommodation being nearby and a fair degree of “socialising” happening between residents “at all hours”.

“The brunt of which is felt by the neighbours.”

Adamson told the Herald wherever possible their security works collaboratively with accommodation management and when they have traced residents who have offended in local stores back to an accommodation provider, they can trespass them from businesses in Parnell.

Investigators are now combing the remains of Parnell's City Garden Lodge after a huge fire tore through the property on Sunday.

However, Adamson said none of the association’s actions compensates for the “huge impact” some of the activities have had on the neighbours living on that street.

“At the moment it seems that the rights of residents and neighbouring businesses have no leverage in this regard.”

One of the lodge’s neighbours told the Herald on Monday she had complained to the owners of the property “about three times a week” for the last year due to threats she received and other dangerous behaviour.

She said the owners rarely got back to her, and if they did she found them to be “very unhelpful”.

The City Garden Lodge is owned by entrepreneurs Suresh and Seema Chatly who own several motels across the city and have received more than $22 million in emergency housing grants.

Adamson said the association had met with the owners, as well as the Waitematā Local Board and several politicians in the previous government.

“We have also attended public meetings with the police and MSD, hosted by David Seymour – who has taken an ongoing interest in this situation in his electorate.”

Seymour, MP for Epsom, said his office has been aware of this issue for three years and worked extensively to provide information to and raise concerns with the relevant authorities.

“For the past few months, my office has been supporting local residents on a daily basis and working with FENZ and Police on a regular basis.”

A police spokesperson said the agency was unable to provide specific details on incidents relating specifically to the address for privacy reasons.

The Chatly’s spoke to the Herald two years ago when they were running nine motels in Auckland.

The Herald attempted to contact the couple and also contacted a number associated with the pair. The person who answered confirmed the couple owned the lodge.

Suresh Chatly, the sole director of the motel operating company Chatly Group Ltd, said in 2022 that the couple switched to emergency housing during the pandemic - not part of a deliberate strategy but a way to survive financially.

“It was more of a survival to pay the mortgage.”

Fire at the City Garden Lodge in Parnell. Photo / Frank Mair

At the time Chatly said because tourism was resuming, six of their nine properties had reverted to only taking tourists.

Government emergency housing grants from 2017 to 2022 show the couple received $22,395,919 in total for the six-year period.

It’s not clear how many motels the couple currently own. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) confirmed City Garden Lodge was not an emergency housing supplier.

The City Garden Lodge address in St George’s Bay Rd is owned by another operating company, Ganpati Holdings Ltd, of which Suresh Chatly is the director and Suresh and Seema Chatly are listed as the shareholders.

A council spokesperson told the Herald it was in discussions with the owner to ensure the building is made safe.

“An assessment has been completed by a structural engineer, and this is likely to result in the removal of dangerous parts of the building.

“The building owner is managing the removal of the upper parts of the building, which will allow fire investigators to access the building. It will not be a full demolition.”

The spokesperson said once the investigators have finished, the building will be boarded up.

“Fencing will also be placed around the site for security at the front and rear of the building.”