A five-storey, "five-star" retirement village, estimated to be worth more than $50 million, could be built at Frankton if a resource consent application by Sanctuary Retirement Villages - one of the leading multistoreyed retirement village developers in the world - is approved.
The proposed village, to be located to the east of the Remarkables Park Town Centre, would have capacity for 158 residents, and would include a swimming pool, spa, gymnasium, bowling green, croquet lawn, studio/hobby room and a "blokes' shed".
The application said the "L-shaped building" would house 120 apartments; 10 serviced units; two care units and two motel units.
The project would be built in stages.
Separate building elements would be connected by internal staircases and circulation corridors.
The proposed site is now used for deer farming.
Sanctuary chief executive Richard Davis said Cliff Cook was the majority shareholder in the company.
He and other senior executives formerly worked for Metlife Care, another retirement village company.
The company has developed retirement villages in South Hampton and Dorcester in the United Kingdom and on Waiheke Island.
A village would open in London next month, with others in London and in Remuera, Auckland, to open next year.
There were two more sites in Australia along with Queenstown, Mr Davis said.
The development at Queenstown was planned for four stages, but it was not known over how many years it would be built.
"It will depend on demand - if there was the demand, we would build it in one. The first thing for us is to get our consent, which we expect to get early next year."
Mr Davis said local builders would likely be used.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times from London yesterday, Remarkables Park Ltd director Alastair Porter said he was "very pleased" Sanctuary had got to the point of being able to lodge resource consent.
"They are highly experienced people in terms of developing retirement villages.
"People in that company have been involved in developing multistorey retirement villages for many years.
"They are some of the most experienced people in New Zealand in that field.
"We know that they have put in an enormous amount of detailed work into planning and designing for the facility and we think that Queenstown people will be delighted not only with the fact that Queenstown . . . is going to get a very [modern] retirement facility, but also we think they'll be hugely impressed with the quality of the facility."
Mr Porter said one of the most important things was the proposed village would be on the same level as the shopping centre.
"It's within easy walking distance of the shopping centre and importantly for senior citizens, it's a flat walk."
The site was already approved for a retirement village and was part of the Remarkables Park Care Precinct, an area zoned for retirement villages and medical-related facilities.
