The Environmental Protection Authority panel issued its decision yesterday granting resource consent to the first two stages of the Lakeview Te Taumata development.
It means construction of 224 apartments, 79 co-living units, about 400sq m of ground-level retail space and 2000sq m of hospitality space is set to start later next year.
It will be built on 3.3ha of a former camping ground near the Skyline gondola, overlooking the resort town’s CBD and Lake Wakatipu.
The transtasman consortium behind the development sent revised plans to the panel on December 2 reducing the heights of the two stages’ five inter-connected buildings.
The changes were broadly in line with those recommended by the panel last month, when it indicated it would reject the proposal unless the heights were lowered.
The tallest of the consented buildings will now be 12 storeys and 42.5m tall, down from 13 storeys and 51.3m in the original submission, on a site with a 26m height guideline.
In its written decision, the panel’s three members said they approved the proposal "by the finest of margins" despite their reservations about the design of the buildings’ rooftops.
They were likely to be the tallest buildings in Queenstown for the foreseeable future, yet the design of the rooftops had been driven by "financial imperatives" rather than aesthetic concerns.
"We find this is a serious shortcoming, and we came very close to refusing consent on the basis that the flat horizontal roof planes ... would reinforce a functional austerity that would detract from the quality of Queenstown."
The proposal would create a "markedly new and different scale of development" in the resort, the panel said.
"To some in the community we imagine this will be seen as very adverse, and we equally imagine that to others the buildings will be very attractive."
The consortium consists of Melbourne developer Ninety Four Feet, property company Centuria NZ and Britomart Hospitality Group.
Ninety Four Feet managing director Dean Rzechta said in a statement the consortium preferred its original submission to the panel, but Lakeview Te Taumata would deliver a "world-class development and amenities" for the district.
Centuria NZ chief executive chief executive Mark Francis said he was pleased to be another step closer to starting construction of what would be a "masterpiece precinct" next to Queenstown’s CBD.
That was echoed by Queenstown Lakes Mayor Glyn Lewers, who said it was good to see progress on a project the council had been working hard on for a long time.
"The rubber’s starting to hit the road."
The development was another example of the confidence businesses were showing in the future of Queenstown and the wider district, Mr Lewers said.
The remaining stages, expected to take more than a decade to complete, will add another 200-plus apartments, 600 hotel rooms and 8000sq m of commercial or retail space.
The rest of the site will consist of courtyards, lanes, plazas and public reserves.
The consortium signed a developer agreement with the Queenstown Lakes District Council in 2019, and council contractors began subdivision and civil works in 2020.
The civil works are due for completion next September.
