In a resort desperately short of reasonably-priced locals’ housing, developer New Ground Capital (NGC) has the received resource consent from Queenstown Lakes District Council to accommodate about 600 people on the Frankton Flats.
Site works for Remarkables Park Apartments, below Remarkables Park Town Centre, are due to begin in March.
"The delivery of truly affordable housing for families and staff is incredibly hard to achieve within the district, so we are thrilled to be under way" NGC managing director Roy Thompson said.
His company, which has now completed buying the one-hectare site, will build 227 one, two and three-bedroom units across three buildings.
The four to six-level buildings — with more than 17,000sqm of floor space — will have shared lounge areas, food and beverage spaces, and extensive basement and outdoor car-parking.
All units will have kitchenettes.
Two of the buildings, housing about 145 apartments, will be sold down. The third, with 82 apartments, will be leased to employers for staff housing.
Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust (QLCHT) has signed a conditional contract to buy 50 units in one of the former buildings.
Mr Thompson expects construction of the staff housing building and the one QLCHT is interested in to start next August. Completion is due by October 2019.
After that, the third building will be constructed.
Mr Thompson says there has been good demand both for the rental accommodation and the units that will be sold.
Prices range from $449,000 for 44sqm, one-bedroom units, while one-bedders will be rented from $350 a week.
He confirms NGC is "deep in negotiations" with three building contractors.
"There’s going to be a high prefabricated component, so it’s more of an assembly process on-site," he adds.
NGC originally proposed a 143-unit worker housing complex in central Queenstown’s Gorge Rd. Despite gaining a resource consent, it cancelled the $30million project because the figures did not stack up.
Mr Thompson, however, said: "A lot of the initial work we did on Gorge Rd has fed into this new one."
Meanwhile, QLCHT executive officer Julie Scott says it is "excited at the opportunity to potentially purchase 50 units and help 50 more households into homes". It is a nice, sunny location, she notes.
"It’s so central to infrastructure — lots of people are working out that way now."
- Philip Chandler
