Rod Neilsen, who now lives permanently in the United States, is reportedly winding down his business interests in Queenstown and has put the entire Walter Peak Estate up for tender.
Mr Neilsen is best known for the Heritage Villas development, near the Heritage Queenstown hotel.
He bought the Walter Peak property in early 2006, with plans to create a multimillion-dollar, fully integrated, "semi-wilderness" estate.
Harcourts sales consultant Warwick Osborne said the sale followed seven years of consultation to get the property to market, with consents in place for a home lodge with six guest suites, a manager's cottage, eight guest cottages and eight luxury homesteads, along with a vineyard and marina.
"Mr Neilsen purchased Walter Peak Estate with plans to build and retain the lodge and cottages to run as an exclusive high country luxury getaway, so until recently only the eight homestead sites have been marketed, with an expected price range of $2 million to $2.8 million per site.
"However, via tender, the proposed home lodge site is now up for sale and the entire property is now available for purchase as one block too, with clear 'must sell' instructions."
Walter Peak Estate features an 820m frontage to the southern shores of Lake Wakatipu and had been partially developed since it was bought by Mr Neilsen.
There are no permanent buildings on the site yet.
"The subdivision infrastructure has been put in place and about 75,000 plants established as part of the landscaping plan."
The area was seen as a unique global destination and Har-courts was confident it would attract "considerable interest", both from within New Zealand and overseas.
Mr Osborne said Mr Neilsen was withdrawing his interests in Queenstown to focus on other commercial interests.
Tenders are due to close on December 10.
