The site is fenced off, the paving isn't done and it doesn't even have a name yet.
The hulking, faux-Parisian structure on Manuka's most prominent corner was once billed as a potential panacea to the flagging heritage shopping precinct.
But while it won't have the promised cinema or any commercial tenancies, the controversy-plagued hotel is well on track to open this year, according to its developer.
John Liangis, whose mother Sotiria Liangis is behind the controversial project, is adamant the hotel would be open "before the end of the year" and that things were progressing.
But Mr Liangis would not confirm persistent rumours the 192-room, five-star hotel would be operated by the global Hilton chain.
"There is no name for the hotel as yet," he said.
He would not be drawn on any other aspect of the drawn-out and conflict-plagued development, not even how much longer it would take to get a peek inside.
Peering through the fencing on Wednesday morning, we could see what looked like a shrouded chandelier in the foyer, a tiled bar and not much else.
On the Franklin Street corner, where there had been promised a restaurant, there is old paving within the steel fencing, with no sign of further construction.
It's hard to imagine, from any vantage point, an indoor pool, enclosed garden or even a ballroom.
But time will tell.
That's what business owners across the street are telling themselves.
They've learned to be patient in the years since the development began in 2019 with high hopes of some much-needed foot traffic in the area.
On this weekday morning, the precinct is quietly humming. The various cafes around the central Lawns, with their carefully pruned London planes, are full of people enjoying coffee and cakes.
But by 2pm, most will shut up shop and the area will be dead until restaurants start their dinner service. What with several empty shopfronts, and existing retailers with low foot traffic, it's a peculiar kind of sporadic energy that feeds off itself - Manuka is in the doldrums and has been for some time.
But among the people enjoying peak hour this morning is Wim Den Hartog, who has recently moved his much-loved L'Orange Patisserie from inside Manuka Court onto the Lawns.
Pointing over to the arcade, he said his cafe has a direct throughline to the hotel.
In the early days of a major European-style refurbishment of what was until recently 1or2 Cafe, he's experimenting with a slightly later closing time of 3pm, and hopes in the future to stay open into the evening with wine and savoury crepes.
But a lot hinges on the hotel, and whether Manuka sees a vibe shift into the summer.
Tayanah O'Donnell, who owns Paperchain Bookstore directly facing the hotel, said there had been "understandable anticipation" about the hotel for some time.
"From our perspective at Paperchain, anything that encourages people to spend more time in Manuka and engage with local businesses is positive for the whole precinct."
Back through the arcade and into a tucked-away corner of Manuka Court, Susan Taylor was quietly optimistic that things will pick up.
She opened her clothing boutique Department of the Exterior in Manuka Court in 2004, during what she describes as a downturn in Manuka's fortunes.
Ms Taylor said her 22 years in the shop had shown her change was the only constant.
"I think all of these shopping centres have ups and downs, and I'm not fazed by the fact that there are some empty shops around," she said.
"They're going to be filled, there'll be new people coming along and seeing a business opportunity, that's just how it is.
"When I opened, it was on a real downturn, so in a way that was good, because there's nowhere to go but up. And you're also prepared - you know the work that you have to put in, in order to survive as a small business when things are quiet and when you don't have a lot of stuff around you."
When she opened, the court, which has a central glass-roofed atrium, had a pizza restaurant, Le Rendezvous, that didn't open during the day, and the mix of shops was patchy.
L'Orange brought a new crowd through for the eight years it stayed in the centre of the court, and the shops are more carefully curated to keep people browsing.
Even though the hotel and its travails were beyond her sight and hearing in her corner of Manuka, Ms Taylor couldn't deny it will be good for the area.
"I think it's optimistic that there's a hotel going in. I liked what was there before, obviously, as many people did, but I think it's good for business, potentially, to have a hotel there.
"It keeps things interesting, it keeps things lively in Manuka, which is great."
She was glad, too, that a new cafe had moved into the space vacated by L'Orange.
In its place, Sev Akcal and her son Milo have opened Duck and Goose, a cafe selling an array of delicate and unusual Turkish desserts and savoury bites.
Ms Akcal has a long association with Manuka, going back to when her family opened Anatalia in 1981, and later Alanya, followed by the neaby Ottoman, a longtime Barton staple.
She now owns Manuka Court and manages the tenants, but from her vantage point in the cafe's small kitchen, she's still feeling her way when it comes to the rhythms of foot traffic in and out of the court.
She said Manuka was definitely in a downturn.
"It's a bit of a dive at the moment, isn't it?" she said.
"Everyone's talking about the hotel, the hotel."
She said one of its selling points had been the prospect of tourists coming to what will be the nearest luxury hotel to the airport.
"The idea is you get the airline stewardesses and the pilots to come and do quick accommodation here, and they'll be looking for shops to peruse," she said.
For the moment, though, businesses are going about their days with one eye trained across the road at what's become a complicated source of hope.
It feels, for the moment, par for the course for Manuka, which has been poised for bigger and better things seemingly for decades.
Ms Taylor, for one, refused to surrender to pessimism.
"I feel very strongly that Manuka is always going to be that hub for the inner south.
"It's just a natural hub for interesting little stores, and big development as well. It's that mix," she said.
