- The property has been listed for sale by local family owners.
- Luxury lodges are a highly sought-after hotel asset class.
- Ski resorts rarely come to market, owing to value-add opportunities, and more.
A New Zealand Southern Alps ski resort and lodge has come to market for the first time in 33 years, listed for sale by local family owners.
The ski fields are renowned for world-class powder skiing, and often play host to northern hemisphere national ski teams through their summer months, including the USA and Norway teams.
“This is a generational opportunity to acquire a profitable going-concern asset in one of the most incredible parts of the world, with a significant opportunity to enhance and reposition the operation into one of the world’s leading luxury lodges,” said CBRE Hotels’ director Tom Gibson, who with CBRE Christchurch managing director, Tim Rookes, is managing the sale.
Located in Mackenzie Country, the property comprises the 72-room Lake Ohau Lodge, which sits on a 10.1 hectares lakeside site, and the Ohau Snow Fields, a 145.2 hectares private ski field with access to over 250 hectares of skiable terrain.
“The potential to renovate the existing 72-room lodge or develop a new luxury accommodation offering opens up endless possibilities for creating an unforgettable experience for guests, surrounded by the picturesque beauty of the Southern Alps,” added Gibson.
A sought-after and rare asset class
The luxury lodge investment sector is one of the most sought-after hotel asset classes, presenting lucrative returns with its high-yielding guest clientele, and significant barriers to entry, said Gibson.
“If you look at the landscape of ownership of this asset class, the majority are UHNWs who have a very long-term attraction and investment to their respective assets. As such, liquidity in this space is very low, albeit capital interest remains extremely high.”
He added that ski resorts rarely become available for sale, “noting the ongoing value-add activities that can be derived from these operations, and the overall appeal of the asset class.
Falls Creek and Mount Hotham was the most recent ski resort acquisition, made in 2019 by Vail Resorts.
Ownership is very widespread, he noted, including private high net worth’s (HNW), private equity groups looking at value-add, and owner-operators looking to deploy their own brands.
