Queenstown hotel developer dies suddenly
Multi-talented Queenstown property developer, musician and composer Kevin Carlin has died, aged 69.
Father-of-four Carlin, who built Hallenstein Street's luxury Carlin Boutique Hotel, is understood to have died of natural causes over the weekend.
Born in the US, Carlin lived a varied life, initially training as a chef before developing restaurants and a Californian catering business, which included celebrities such as Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Tom Petty and Olivia Newton-John.
He toured with rock legend Osbourne as his private chef, and the business led him to develop a mobile kitchen, which he patented and sold to organisations, including McDonald's, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
His career in property development began more than 30 years ago, developing properties in the US and multi-million landmark houses on Australia's Gold Coast.
In Queenstown, he developed Lakeside Estates, The Waterfront Hotel, and partnered with Australia-based Centuria on the five-star Radisson-branded hotel, which is being built on the corner of Brecon St and Man St.
But his "beyond five-star" Carlin Boutique Hotel, with its Oro restaurant, was his most ambitious and memorable project.
The $30 million hotel was built on a tight site on Hallenstein Street, rising seven stories. Carlin continued the build through the Covid-19 years, managing to avoid supply chain issues and escalating costs by having the foresight to order all the materials he needed beforehand and put them in storage.
To ensure jaw-dropping views for his penthouse guest and other floors, he paid for the power lines to be undergrounded in front of the property.
It opened in March 2022, just in time for the borders to reopen, offering guests everything from private butlers and chefs, to airport pick ups in a Bentley.
The labour-of-love project was crowned the best new boutique hotel by the Boutique Hotel Awards in 2022 and won several other awards.
Carlin could often be found performing in the hotel's restaurant, for while business paid the bills, music was his first love.
Trained as a concert pianist and skilled on multiple instruments, including guitar and sax, he released numerous albums over the years and composed many pieces, across different genres.
In 2003, he composed 14 orchestral pieces for album, The Princess of Wales. It was performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and reached 23 in the charts.
He later met Prince Charles, now King Charles III, at London's St James' Palace to present him with the album.
