The 440 homes of Lake Hayes Estate will have a place to meet and greet and buy the daily essentials on their doorstep for the first time when a long-awaited cafe, bar and grocery opens next year.
The Deavoll family bought the consented commercial lot within the 1100sq m on Nerin Sq, owned for the development of affordable residences by the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust.
Hana and Sam Deavoll, of Lake Hayes Estate, and Sam's father Dennis, of Frankton, intend to build and become the landlords of a service and convenience supply hub on the vacant lot of 1 Onslow Rd.
Through licensee salesman Simon Haslett, of Ray White Queenstown, the Deavolls are calling for expressions of interest by December 20 for the available tenancies, which range from a 164sq m area with sunny sheltered courtyard and parking for vehicles and bicycles, two 45sq m ground floor retail areas, and two 49sq m first-floor offices.
Mrs Deavoll said the family wanted to provide ''a community hub where people can pop in for a loaf of bread and meet for a coffee, tradies can stop by for a beer after work and there's everyday dining.
''We've got a good sense of community down there and we've got children too, so we want it to be family-friendly.''
The building, designed by Michael Wells Design Ltd, of Lake Hayes Estate, is aimed to be in keeping with the style of housing on the estate, but clear in its commercial purpose.
The site is next to the McBride Park playground, the Little Rockets Childcare facility, the community housing development and a Connectabus stop.
The tenants stand to serve the growing population of the estate and surrounding areas, the cyclists and pedestrians on the Queenstown Trail, plus 700 to 900 houses to be built at the nearby linked Shotover Country residential development and the 650 pupils to attend Shotover Primary School.
Lake Hayes Estate in 2011 was deemed ''acceptable'' and ''less successful'', while its out-of-town location without any services was ''a major urban design concern'', in a critique of suburbs tabled at a Queenstown Lakes District Council sub-committee meeting.
The critique said the estate would be ''more successful'' had it been treated as a ''stand-alone village'' with shops and enough amenities to create a village centre and destination for residents.
Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust chairman David Cole, of Dalefield, confirmed the land had been sold and settled and the operator was planning to put in place a cafe-bar.
''From a trust's perspective, we need to always listen carefully to what the community is saying,'' Mr Cole said.
''The trust, arguably, could have put another two houses in there, but the Lake Hayes community has been saying to us all along that they wanted a cafe-bar down there, at Lake Hayes Estate, so we've always been mindful of that overriding consideration.''
