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Historic Cardrona Hotel up for sale

One of New Zealand’s oldest hotels, the historic Cardrona Hotel near Wanaka, is about to be offered for sale as a Freehold Going Concern (including land buildings and business).

Built in 1863, the Cardrona Hotel is synonymous with Speights advertising campaigns where it was frequently featured as part of the backdrop.

The hotel is one of the last remaining occupied buildings of the Central Otago gold rush days. Cardrona, 47km from Queenstown, was the focal point for hundreds of settlers who came to the area during the 1870s, keen to stake their claim.

As the years passed, Cardrona expanded and by 1871 the population was such that it had become the centre of the butchery trade in Central Otago. It remained an important commercial centre through the 1870s and 1880s, although it fluctuated with the changing fortunes of the mining industry.

The Cardrona Hotel has had several owners but by far the longest serving and most memorable for people today would be James Paterson, who came to Cardrona from Oamaru in about 1890 and worked a gold claim for 40 years. In 1926 he took over the hotel. Many people remember Jim Paterson standing behind his bar (which still remains), wearing his spectacles and braces, serving warm beer from a bottle. He was also remembered for the fact that he didn’t serve women and that he would ration his customers. Patrons who were about to drive the Crown Range Road were only allowed one glass, but those who were heading for Wanaka were allowed two.

Philip Cooper and Mark Simpson, marketing agents for Colliers International, said the Cardrona Hotel has benefited from the strength in the region’s tourism sector over the past few years.

“Tourism growth is continuing in both guest nights and visitor numbers into the Southern Lakes Region with some hotel operators reporting the 2010 first quarter performance as the strongest in a decade. Queenstown International Airport has undergone significant expansion in the past three years having spent upwards of NZD35m with plans to grow both the air capacity and terminal infrastructure over the next few years. This growth has been helped by a 40% increase in winter air capacity out of Australia’s east coast in the last 12 months, and an increase in international arrivals of 39% and 13% in domestic arrivals over the past nine months,” according to Simpson, of Colliers Queenstown.”

Specialist hotel broker Philip Cooper at Colliers in Christchurch supports this. “The Cardrona Hotel is very well known for its corporate and wedding function business but it also has a significant tourist trade resulting from the high traffic counts past the front door, especially since the upgrade of the Crown Range Rd.”

Close to five major ski areas, the property occupies a total area of 6229m2 on four freehold titles. It comprises bars, restaurant and 16 accommodation units. Cardrona Hotel is for sale by deadline private treaty, closing August 25.

For further information, contact:

Christchurch - Philip Cooper, 03 365 7887, 021 326 245. Philip.cooper@colliers.com

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