Heaven on Earth Corporation Ltd has lodged a resource consent application with Lakes Environmental for the proposed village, named St Paul de Vence Queenstown.
The site is an excavated piece of steep land between a reserve and the Rydges Hotel, with Thompson St behind. Creative director Maurice Orr, who lives in the Wakatipu, hoped the application would be approved and if all went to plan, construction could start in 2015.
Prices for the units would depend on size, he said. A two to three-bedroom unit could cost between $300,000 and $400,000.
He said with a lack of large-scale projects in the area, short-term benefits would include work for construction workers and long-term, the substantial rates boost and general spending from the residents and guests.
He said while it was accepted families with children could live in apartments in cities, Queenstown had not reached that stage and, consequently, he was unsure whether the development would be an answer to housing the resort's fast-increasing population.
Asked whether the units would be for visitors or residents, he said his view was to have ''a good balance of visitors and locals'' so visitors could come to a hotel and ''end up eating with a local''.
Key features of the development's design include glacial and snowflake shapes, white and glass being primary aspects and eight floors receding progressively up the steep site.
Another feature of the site, he said, was the neighbouring reserve area.
The resource consent application states that to the southwest of the site there is a steep recreation reserve which is ''almost a forgotten area'' and Mr Orr yesterday said he had creative hopes for it.
''One idea we have had was to make it into a sculpture reserve,'' Mr Orr said.
The site of the proposed village had always been earmarked for a hotel and it was already excavated when he purchased it.
He said he had been planning the development before Christmas.
Lakes Environmental has requested further information for the resource consent and, due to the consent still being processed, the units are not yet for sale.
