19 Mar 2013

Critics of high-rise surprise developer

7:44 pm on 19 March 2013

One of the developers behind a luxury hotel proposed for Dunedin's waterfront says she has been surprised at the amount of negative reaction.

Resource consent hearings for the controversial 28-storey hotel and apartment block at Steamer Wharf are expected to finish on Wednesday.

More than 500 public submissions were received, and all but 50 opposed the development.

The Queenstown-based businesswoman Jing Song says the criticisms have come as a surprise because other projects do not seem to get so much.

But she says those reactions have to be respected, whatever the reasons behind them.

Ms Song says if the plan is rejected she will do everything she can to make the project happen some other way.