Ashburton offices, hotel get green light
The mid-Canterbury town of Ashburton is enjoying a commercial property boom with confirmation of a new Scenic Hotel Group four-star hotel, and a nearby office and retail building.
The recent closure of the Silver Fern Farms freezing works has failed to dampen the appetite of the New Zealand-owned hotel chain, nor a joint venture between Carrfields and South Island legal firm Tavendale and Partners.
Scenic Hotel Group, which is owned by the Hagaman family, has struck an agreement with Eastfield Investments for the development of a 75-room, fourstar hotel in Ashburton’s Eastfield Precinct. It is expected to open in early May 2019.
The new hotel is part of a $40 million, 10,548-square-metre development in the centre of Ashburton.
‘‘The agreement also underpins the confidence we are seeing in the Eastfields project and could well bring forward the development of the central destination area within the CBD,’’ Eastfield Investments chairman Brian Davidson said.
Scenic Hotel Group operates 18 hotels throughout New Zealand and the South Pacific.
The new Eastfield hotel will also include a bar, restaurant and meeting rooms. It will be on Burnett St, next to the Braided Rivers Restaurant and Bar.
Meanwhile, Burnett Land Holdings (BLH), which is a joint venture between Carrfields Investments (part of the Carrfields Group) and Tavendale and Partners, announced that work had begun on two-level office and retail building.
It has been designed by local architectural firm Chilton and Mayne Architecture, and is due to open by June 2018.
Several well-known brands are in discussions with BLH to take leases in the new development, which is yet to be named.
Tavendale and Partners’ midCanterbury staff will occupy most of the first floor. The ground floor includes a north-facing cafe.
Canterbury construction firm Bradford Building has been appointed as lead contractor, with much of the subcontracting work to be completed by other local businesses in Ashburton.