Building work on a half-a-billion dollar-plus village at Queenstown’s Jack’s Point is about to start.
The long-awaited central hub – alongside Lake Tewa and the Clubhouse – will comprise 110 homes, a mix of 600 visitor accommodation rooms, including a $200m waterfront hotel, and commercial premises amidst tree-lined streetscapes and green spaces.
It will service Jack’s Point zone’s resident population, including Hanley’s Farm, which will eventually reach about 8000.
But it will also enhance its appeal as a destination for locals and visitors already attracted by the championship golf course and other amenities like its walking/cycling trails, its developers say.
The 15-hectare site – a similar size to Queenstown’s CBD – is being developed by Jack’s Point’s original local developers, John Darby and Mike Coburn.
Darby calls it “a game-changer” for the resort.
He says it will attract a broad range of people to live and work there with “a lively mix of shops, restaurants, small businesses, homes, visitor accommodation and a strong community base”.
The first homes, mostly two-bedroom, are priced from $699,000, and will be built by Southern Lakes Group and Classic Builders.
Darby says they’re priced “well below the average price for Queenstown, and will appeal to young first-home buyers, retirees and everyone in between”.
Coburn adds: “Part of the original philosophy and vision for the village was to have a cross-section of all of the community living here.”
In contrast to the expanding shopping centres on Queenstown’s Frankton Flats, Coburn says the village has “more the sort of atmosphere you’d expect in places like Clyde or Arrowtown, but just on a bigger scale, and, of course, in a modern build, but still in sympathy with the landscape which has always been our ethos”.
Parts of the village – which Coburn says will follow the same design guidelines as the rest of Jack’s Point – will be up to four storeys.
The design, by Darby’s planning, design and project management practice, Darby Partners, promotes the use of sustainable materials and green engineering systems.
Coburn: “It is a rather unique village in New Zealand because there’s not too many builds that I’m aware of, of the same scale.”
He says the development timetable “is going to be driven by demand and the economy”.
Plans for the five-star hotel will be unveiled soon.
Meanwhile, Coburn and Darby are also seeking, along with real estate consultancy CBRE, partners to help build the village.
“Given central Queenstown is largely locked up by investors, Jack’s Point Village presents a chance to participate in this thriving community and growing visitor economy,” Darby says.
