On Monday, commissioners released their interim decision on the Sanderson Group's Queenstown Country Club, granting consent for 235 stand-alone homes, 97 apartments, a rest-home, hospital and dementia care facility, a medical centre, clubhouse, child care facility, gym restaurant/cafe and staff accommodation.
The decision also included 54 pages of conditions.
Yesterday, chairman Fraser Sanderson said the amount of interest in the two- and three-bedroom homes - priced from $735,000 - was an indication of the "overwhelming demand from retirees in the Wakatipu basin''.
"The majority of our registered interest are local residents who have dedicated much of their lives to making Queenstown what it is today.
"It would have been a great shame if these people and others like them were forced to leave Queenstown as so many others have had to in the past.
"Many still have a great deal to contribute, especially those who have raised families here and whose children and grandchildren live in the area.''
Mr Sanderson said the investment the company was making into the resort would have "massive flow-on benefits'' to the wider community, stimulating further growth and diversity in the economy and creating new jobs.
The company had an immediate need to hire builders and was constructing worker accommodation on site which would be "heavily subsidised'' for employees, with provision for partners to also live on site.
The retirement village would also enable more specialised medical care practitioners to work in the area, which had the potential to diversify the economy away from hospitality and tourism.
The interim decision included a one-year lapse date on the first stage of the development - which was the worker accommodation.
During the hearing, held over three days in January, Sanderson Group said they expected the development to be fully completed within seven or eight years.
