Earthquake-damaged Crowne Plaza Christchurch to be demolished
The owner of Crowne Plaza Christchurch, Eureka Funds Management, has confirmed the hotel is to be demolished, following a final ruling by structural engineers that damage sustained during the Christchurch earthquakes in February cannot be repaired.
Eureka today briefed the hotel’s 160 remaining employees, who have been retained on full pay since the earthquakes, that the Crowne Plaza (pictured above) will not be rebuilt following its demolition.
It joins the Hotel Grand Chancellor in central Christchurch, whose demolition has been pushed back nearly two months by aftershocks. The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) has been advised by contractor Fletcher Construction that it could bring down the 26-storey Grand Chancellor building in 37 weeks.
The Crowne Plaza, located on the corner of Kilmore and Durham streets on the edge of Victoria Square, was situated in a section of the CBD that still remains restricted to public access.
“After careful analysis, our structural engineers have reached the conclusion that the building needs to come down. The structure is noticeably leaning and cannot be restored to the building codes that were in place at the time of the earthquakes. It’s essentially broken beyond repair,” says Eureka Funds Management fund manager Glen Boultwood.
“We’ve investigated every possible avenue to restore this hotel. Based on significantly higher construction costs and additional costs resulting from necessary changes to building codes in the city, the fact remains that it is financially prohibitive for us to re-establish the hotel in Christchurch.”
Eureka Funds Management purchased the 23-year old Crowne Plaza Christchurch in 2008.
Intercontinental Hotel Group has operated the hotel in its portfolio of 50 hotels and resorts across Australasia, as part of the world’s largest hotel network by number of rooms.
Christchurch’s occupancy rate jumped 12% to 62% based on the latest preliminary figures from STR Global, with an average $149 room rate.
