Turning Lemons into Lemonade - Hamilton and Waikato ...

Turning Lemons
 into Lemonade

Introducing the                                                 Project…

• 2008 we purchased the 1-3 George St, Tuakau property in a dilapidated state, with existing leasee,
  as a long-term investment
• After 8mths of defaulting rent payments we closed for one week & reopened August 2008 with
  the existing 10 staff, becoming reluctant publicans of the Tuakau Tavern
• Tuakau Wholesale Liquor had $7000 stock & no beer in the chiller

• 2011 opened the accommodation
  after 33ys of operating as a Tavern
  only
• 2012 won Hospitality NZ “Best
  New/Redeveloped Accommodation
  Hotel” Award for Excellence
• 2012 opened a new apartment block
  with 5 studios and 2 one-bedroom
  fully self-contained units
• Qualmark Rated 4 star in 2014 and
  4Plus star in 2015
• The only 4plus star Hotel between
  Manukau City and Hamilton
• In 2015 for my partner’s mother’s
  93rd birthday we named the
  restaurant Elsie’s after her.

•   Elsie’s Restaurant & Bar sold – 2016
                       •   Opened August 2008 with 7 Staff
                       •   Sold April 2016 with 35 Staff

Businesses sold   •   Tuakau Wholesale Liquor sold – 2018
                       •   Opened August 2008 with $7000 worth of stock
                       •   Sold October 2018 with $200k worth of stock

• Day 48 of COVID-19 restrictions and Day 15
             at Level 3
           • Global 4.234m cases, 289,932 deaths,
             1.481m recovered
           • Global travel & tourism worth $8.8bn in 2018
12th May     with 319m jobs – UN advising tourism could
             decline by 80% in 2020, and OECD forecast
    2020     70% reduction in tourism
           • Dr Ashley Bloomfield reported 0 new cases,
             1,497 total cases, 1,398 recovered, 2 in
             hospital, 21 deaths, 16 clusters, 2,892 new
             tests with 197,084 total tests completed.

•   $10.7bn paid out in wage subsidy to support
               1.75m NZ jobs, family gatherings of

The Fire

The Investigation
• Staff closed the store at 8:30pm
• Fire commenced a little after 9pm
• Found to be a 3yr (and 1mth out of warranty)
  CCTV Monitor

The Investigation
• Two insurance companies involved,
  ours as the building owner and the
  Liquor store’s as the business
  owner/operator
• Last week the insurance company
  paid us out for the building

• The business reopened 16th July
           2020, 9 weeks after the fire, for

New        trading in a temporary box, we
           built inside the burnt out shell of
           the building, while we awaited
Store…     the outcome of the investigation
           and insurance claims

Future Plans
•   In 2019 we opened a new wing at the Hotel consisting of a
    ground floor conference room adjoining the Restaurant and 4
    new hotel guest rooms above on the first floor
•   Design for this had anticipated a future redevelopment of the
    Wholesale Liquor site to enable growth of the hotel on this
    existing footprint, with potential connecting accessways
    designed into the build to ultimately connect both the
    traditional hotel with the apartment style units
•   To facilitate redevelopment of the hotel would require moving
    the Liquor Store off-site, and we had earmarked the property
    immediately across the road for this purpose

Introducing 6 & 8
Liverpool Street…

• 2007 we purchased the 8
  Liverpool St property as a long-
  term investment
• 3 one- & two-bedroom flats
• Site adjoining WDC land at 6
  Liverpool St used as a carpark
• Placemaking project for the
  community followed 2019

Future Plans
•   We are heavily involved in the growth and
    development of Tuakau having redeveloped
    the old railway yards into a strip mall of shops
    including WDC Offices, and are currently
    building a retail/residential block further
    down George St which we plan to open early
    2021
•   Fasttrack those ideas to turn them into plans
-   Do we buy the 6 Liverpool St site from
    Council? Property valued but sale declined by
    Councillors
-   Do we work with Council on a Public/Private
    Partnership project for the Community?
    Council has no budget
-   Do we develop our own site? Herewith plans
    for retail/residential development at 8
    Liverpool St to accommodate the Tuakau
    Wholesale Liquor Store

Our blank
canvas…
starts here