News

Invercargill hotelier Geoff Thompson brought the Esk St West building from Pascoe Properties in 2021, with plans to develop it into a 150-room 4.5-star hotel, complete with a downstairs restaurant, by late 2024.

As it stands, the building has largely been stripped back to its concrete foundations while structural strengthening has taken place, as well as a large amount of asbestos having been removed from the original build.

Project manager Hayden Rankin said most of the interior and exterior demolition was complete, and the next step was removing the building’s facade, which will get under way once the new pre-built facades were shipped early next year.

"We’ll time it for probably late November for when we start taking the actual facade off and exposing the building. We don’t want to do it too early, obviously with the Southland elements."

There were two operating lifts in the building, with a third to be installed in the coming months before the existing two were decommissioned.

Pedestrians would likely get an idea of what the updated building would look like once the new facades were placed about February or March next year, he said.

The former Southland Frozen Meats building opposite the Menzies Building had also been bought by Mr Thompson, with plans for it to be developed into residential accommodation for hotel staff.

Mr Rankin said demolition of the existing buildings would get under way later this year, and construction of the accommodation would follow shortly after.

The hotel opening was likely in the third or fourth quarter next year, he said.

"It’ll be good to see it finished, especially for the client. He’s pretty eager to do something in Invercargill, he’s born and bred and pretty keen to have one of his hotels in his home town."