- More than $12 million in Hamilton real estate, including a motel for emergency accommodation, has been sold.
- Hamilton Accommodation Limited's financial troubles were linked to unpaid taxes and issues with emergency accommodation use.
- The properties, including three motels and seven rentals, were bought by local moteliers and investors.
More than $12m worth of Hamilton real estate, including a motel used for emergency accommodation, has been sold in a large-scale liquidation sale.
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The 10 properties, comprising three motels and seven rental properties, hit the market in July after the owners of Hamilton Accommodation Limited failed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in tax.
The liquidator of Hamilton Accommodation Limited appointed Bayleys to sell both the motels and the residential properties to recoup the $92,198 owed in unpaid taxes. Hamilton Accommodation Limited directors Patrick McGuyan and Thi Nguyen were declared bankrupt last month.
Sunrise Motel on Ulster Street, which is Hamilton's motel alley, is being sold by tender. Photo / Supplied
One of the three two-bedroom units on Te Rapa Road, in Beerescourt, snapped up by investors. Photo / Supplied
According to KPMG’s first liquidator’s report, the company's use of motels as emergency accommodation had contributed to its financial troubles. “Significant wear and tear, tenant-related damage, and reputational issues” made it difficult to attract customers once the tenants left.
One of the directors told the liquidators this was made worse because they had been unable to sell the motels to help ease the cashflow pressures. The properties had a combined RV of more than $12m.
Bayleys Hamilton commercial director David Cashmore told OneRoof that the three motels - Abbey Motel, Sunrise Motel, and Hamilton Motel - sold as part of the tender process. They attracted 60 enquiries and 25 offers.
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Developers, investors, and accommodation providers from New Zealand and Asia had shown interest, but the properties ended up being bought by three different local moteliers.
“I was surprised to get as many tenders; but the mortgagee or liquidation sales process, it does surprise me how people come out of the woodwork for it,” Cashmore told OneRoof.
He said the sale prices were probably a fair reflection of the current market. “I don’t think it’s fair to say they were sold at a bargain.”
A 1930s villa on Ohaupo Road, in Melville, was one of the 10 properties offered for sale. Photo / Supplied
He said he was unable to disclose the sale prices until settlement.
A fourth motel, Te Rapa Motor Inn, on Ulster Street, in Whitiora, was in the process of being sold to a community housing group before the liquidator became involved. The property settled last month for $5m, according to property records, and plans are underway to demolish the five existing buildings and build 73 apartments on the site for social housing.
Along with the motels, two blocks of houses and a standalone home have sold to investors for a combined $3.02m.
A six-bedroom, one-bathroom home on Te Rapa Road netted $690,000 under the hammer, while two units on Te Rapa Road, in Beerescourt, sold for $828,000 and a row of four houses on Ohaupo Road, in Melville, fetched $1.554m.
The owner had run them as rental properties, but they were now all vacant.
Cashmore said the residential properties all needed a lot of work. Some of the properties were not Healthy Homes compliant.
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