New Zealand: The Waldorf Stadium Apartment Hotel in Auckland’s CBD has sold to Malayasian-owned Mulpha Group for NZ$59 million.
The 178-key property was owned for many years by private Australian investors who have sold to Mulpha Group, which is based in Australia and owned by Mulpha International Bhd, Malaysia’s largest real estate investor and developer in Australia.
Mulpha’s assets in Australia include Hayman Island, Bimbadgen Estate, and InterContinental Hotels in Sydney and Sanctuary Cove.
Built in 2008, the Waldorf is located in downtown Auckland close to the harbour, the Spark Arena, the Britomart precinct and is 500 metres from Queen Street, the city’s main commercial and retail thoroughfare.
The hotel comprises a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom self-contained apartments. Colliers International and CBRE have announced the sale following an international sales campaign that attracted mainly overseas investors.
The hotel is managed by the Waldorf brand, owned by Japanese conglomerate Daiwa House Group, which will continue to operate the property. Daiwa House acquired the Australia and New Zealand Waldorf serviced apartment business in 2017.
Mulpha chief executive Greg Shaw said: “In terms of the Waldorf Stadium Hotel, we were attracted to its position in a key gateway city, strategic location in the heart of the Auckland CBD, together with several strategic opportunities to add additional value to this asset over the short to medium term working in conjunction with the hotel operator Daiwa House Group.”
Dean Humphries, national director of hotels at Colliers International, says the transaction is the first major hotel sale in the Auckland CBD since the Hilton Auckland sold in 2012. It was also the largest hotel transaction in Auckland in 12 years since the Carlton on Mayoral Drive sold for NZ$113 million in late 2006.
Wayne Bunz, national director of CBRE Hotels, said: “This is the largest transaction in New Zealand since CBRE and Colliers International sold the Novotel Queenstown in 2015 at NZ$91.3 million.”
