The 13,106sqm terraced site’s on the corner of Gorge Rd and Bowen St.
The vendors recently received resource consent to subdivide the site into three lots.
Lot 3, on the upper terrace, is 7826sqm and is occupied by an asphalted bus park, including bus wash and offices, that’s leased to 12 tourism operators.
During Covid it was understandably vacant, but it’s now well-used again, and from a pre-Covid rent roll of about $300,000 a year it’s now returning almost $400,000.
Also contributing to the rent roll is a Vodafone cell tower on the western boundary.
Lot 2 comprises 1892sqm on the corner of Gorge Rd and Bowen St, and also enjoys a business zoning.
Lot 1, off Bowen St, is 3927sqm, including 2640sqm zoned high-density residential with the balance in the business zone.
The sale, by deadline sale private treaty, is being handled by commercial property specialist Savills Australia and New Zealand — the deadline’s July 23.
Savills NZ commercial sales director Norman Engel — who, incidentally, was the original manager of Queenstown’s Hilton Hotel’s Wakatipu Grille restaurant — says: "As NZ’s premier tourist destination, Queenstown has bounced back with a vengeance, driving demand for development sites to unprecedented levels due to a lack of market stock."
He notes the bus park returns a healthy yield in its own right.
If someone paid $10million for the site, for example, "with a $400,000 income, that’s a yield of about 4%, which is not unattractive in Queenstown".
The buyer might then either hive off either or both Lot 1 and 2, or develop them.
"We’ve had inquries to turn it into workers’ accommodation," Engel says.
Helping anyone develop the bus park land is the fact all the leases expire within 12 months.
Co-vendor, Queenstowner Lew Gdanitz, however, thinks a new buyer would be wise to keep the bus park.
"There’s nothing I know that’s that close to town [1.4km from the CBD] — if they’re going to go out to Frankton, then they’ll probably pay twice as much."
Gdanitz also believes workers’ accommodation would be a good fit on the balance of the site.
Not only is it close to a supermarket but he thinks Gorge Rd’s likely to see extensive apartment/hotel development, so having staff accommodation nearby would be useful.
He notes a worker housing complex has been green-lit for Frankton, "but if you’re working in hospitality in town and you’re not finishing till midnight, how are you going to get home?"
Gdanitz says he and his business partner have already spent about three quarters of a million dollars upgrading Brewery Creek, which runs through part of their site.
