Builders ready for $200m luxury Darwin hotel
Work will begin on Landbridge’s $200 million luxury hotel in February.
McMahon Services is the project’s first contractor announced and begin the first phase of construction which will see the construction of a sea wall around the site adjacent to the Darwin Waterfront.
Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison says the hotel, which will be operated by hotel chain Westin, will help to breathe life back into the NT’s struggling tourism industry.
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“It is going to be a gamechanger for tourism because we are going to have some luxury tourism products to get those tourists into the Top End who have lots of cash to spend and will be leaving it behind in the Territory,” she says.
Manison says the hotel build will support 500 construction jobs and 150 ongoing tourism positions after completion.
McMahon Services manager Mick Laider says the company’s 95% local workforce will lead the build, which is expected to take up to eight months to complete.
Landbridge executive Mike Hughes says the Chinese company wants to maximise Territory input into the project, provided doing so makes financial sense.
“Ultimately local companies need to be competitive and need to deliver costs that compete but we’re certainly going to structure everything in a way we can maximise local content,” Hughes says.
“The hotel we believe will be of major benefit to Darwin, both from a high end tourism perspective and also a business perspective, attracting serious investors as well as high end tourism to Darwin.”
The NT Government will chip in $10 million to the private project for headworks and essential services. Manison says doing so is a “good investment” for the Territory.
Landbridge is the Chinese company which holds a controversial 99-year lease over the Darwin Port.
Construction on the company’s luxury hotel was initially expected to begin this year with competition expected in 2020.
This article from the NT News originally appeared as “Construction start date set for $200 million 6-star luxury hotel Landbridge hotel”.
