There's lot of life in old Duke yet

The Duke of Wellington Hotel building, which has been an icon on the Mt Wellington Highway for the past 29 years, is now up for sale along with a large block of land on which it is situated.

Occupying a prominent 8048sq m corner site at 570 Mt Wellington Highway, the building has dual access from Mt Wellington Highway and Panama Rd and is being offered for sale by tender closing August 10.

The three-level hotel has a total floor area of 1844sq m, comprising a basement storage area of 355sq m, a ground floor with bar areas, a restaurant, kitchen and a bottle store totalling 1036sq m. The top floor of 394sq m encompasses a bar and three-bedroom flat along with a further 60sq m of improvements.

The site and buildings are now being offered for sale through Bayleys Real Estate by Mike Houlker and David Gubb on behalf of the CA Hulse Trust. The hotel business was purchased by the trust this year, headed by brothers Hugh, Morrie and Bill Hulse.

The land was purchased by ancestors of the brothers in the late 1930s and has remained in the family since. Advisory trustee Hugh Hulse, who is a son of one of the original owners of the property, says his father and uncle originally bought the property to set up a garage and service station business and the family also made their home on the property.

Hulse, who lived on the property as a child, says the garage and service station serviced vehicles owned by Auckland Co-op Taxis, which his father and uncle also started during the Depression. The taxi business expanded to eventually include six cabs and about half a dozen rental cars.

At the time, says Hulse, the service station was the only one in the surrounding area.

"My brothers and I always argued about who was going to go out and tend to customers. We were woken at all hours of the night by regulars knocking on our door who had run out of petrol."

He says that when his uncle died in the late 1960s, his father looked for an alternative use for the land. At about the same time the Mt Wellington Trust Hotels and local mayor Mr McCulloch approached his father to float the idea of using the site for a trust hotel.

In the late 1970s, after about five years of planning and building, the Duke of Wellington Hotel opened its doors and it has been operating as a hospitality venue ever since.

Hugh Hulse has been managing the business since it was bought by CA Hulse Trust and says the area has been extensively developed since he was a child.

"When our house was on the land, we were surrounded by paddocks. The trucks used to roar along Panama Rd to the new Tip-Top factory and the construction of the motorway produced a large amount of business for the garage and service station," said Hulse.

Operating as the Duke of Wellington, the property is still a prominent local site and is entrenched in the hearts of locals, says Hulse. At a recent function, a regular said "the way she rocked last night was just like the old days. There's a lot of life in the old Duke yet".

Houlker says the location of the buildings and site, along with having a Business 4 zoning, presents a multitude of opportunities for a new owner. The hotel is being managed by the owners and there is no formal lease arrangement in place.

It could be developed to accommodate bulk retail, retail, office and industrial businesses. There is also the possibility for mixed use, with part of the property continuing as a hotel business and the balance of the land being used for other purposes.

The Business 4 zone is applied where is there is low to medium intensity light industry and services and allows for a wide range of activities.

Mt Wellington is rapidly changing as a commercial and industrial area, says Gubb, mainly due to the 24ha Sylvia Park development at the intersection of the Southern Motorway, Mt Wellington Highway and the Eastern Arterial flyover, which is about 500m from the Duke.

Being developed by Kiwi Income Property Trust, Sylvia Park will provide Mt Wellington with a new town centre, incorporating an office park of mid-rise commercial buildings and residential, retail and entertainment facilities.

The 1999 regional strategy sited the Sylvia Park development as a catalyst for residential intensification, boosting the population of the area from 6700 to 17,000.