Templeton Group, one of New Zealand's most experienced high-rise developers, today presented its preliminary design for Victoria Street Tower to Hamilton City Council – a project that will deliver Hamilton's first true high-rise tower.
Situated on Victoria Street beside the Waikato River, the $100 million-plus landmark tower will rise 25 levels, with a total gross floor area of approximately 25,000 square metres.
Templeton Group founder and chairman Nigel McKenna said Victoria Street Tower is not simply a new building.
“It is a vertical city – a fully integrated mixed-use development with a complexity and depth of programme that places it alongside the most significant urban projects ever delivered in New Zealand.”
The development will include:
Two levels of basement car parking
Three levels of hospitality and dining, including five food and beverage venues at ground level opening to an activated public plaza
A 200-plus room international 5-star hotel with conference and pre-function facilities
A world-class health, wellness and spa facility with pool terrace
27 serviced apartments and 25 branded residences, including sub-penthouses and a penthouse
A rooftop sky bar and club lounge with panoramic views of the Waikato River and Hamilton skyline
Mayor Tim Macindoe said “The latest images shared by Templeton Group are exciting and reveal a bold vision for Hamilton’s future. A 25‑storey riverfront development of this scale will continue Hamilton’s evolution into a thriving, modern city, with a hotel, apartments, and a world‑class dining precinct right on our river’s edge.
"This development also arrives at exactly the right time for Hamilton. With Fieldays and the Chiefs currently drawing huge crowds, and a growing calendar of major events bringing visitors here from across New Zealand and beyond, the need for more accommodation has never been clearer.
"A 2025 feasibility study shows Hamilton will require around 500 additional hotel rooms by 2030, and demand will continue to grow across the city, including close to Claudelands, where increased accommodation capacity would deliver significant economic benefits associated with major events" said Mayor Macindoe.
McKenna said Victoria Street Tower will be the most complex, most visible, and consequential private development Hamilton has ever seen.
“It will bring international hotel brands to the city for the first time at this level, activate one of Hamilton’s most significant riverfront precincts, generate substantial construction and operational employment, and signal to investors, visitors, and residents alike that Hamilton is a city building for its future with confidence and ambition.”
McKenna is one of just a handful of New Zealand developers with a proven track record in delivering multiple high-rise towers. His completed projects include the Abstract Hotel (12 levels), Rydges Hotel (18 levels), Unilodge on Anzac (20 levels), and the Quadrant Hotel (24 levels), each delivered over a typical five-to-six year development cycle.
Across more than three decades, McKenna has delivered more than 1000 hotel rooms across New Zealand, from The Sebel at the Viaduct in 1998 through to the recently opened Abstract Hotel and Residences in Auckland, which Templeton owns and operates. McKenna’s earlier projects, including The Viaduct in Auckland, and Dockside and Shed 5 in Wellington, remain active and greatly valued parts of their cities more than 30 years on.
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