The businessman behind a luxury lodge proposed for Queenstown’s Bobs Cove says the revision of his consent application has forced a change to its funding model.
Giving evidence on the second day of an appeal hearing in the Environment Court yesterday, Waimarino Queenstown Ltd director Andrew McIntosh said he began work on the proposal about four years ago, and subsequently entered a conditional agreement to buy the 1.8ha site from its previous owner, veteran property developer John Reid.
The company’s resource consent application for the lodge in 2021 included a subdivision of the land to enable some of its 24 villas to be sold on freehold titles.
However, after independent commissioners refused the application in late 2022 — leading to the appeal now before the court — he dropped the subdivision component in a key revision to the application.
Asked by commissioner Kate Wilkinson how it would change his business model for the lodge, Mr McIntosh said it would affect its "capital model", or how he would fund the development.
Although he could no longer raise capital from selling villas, he also would not have to pay rent to villa owners.
Upon its completion, lodge guests would pay nightly tariffs as they would at a hotel, he said.
Also giving evidence for the company, landscape architect Steve Skelton said the removal of four of the villas as part of the revised application had allowed the re-siting of some of the buildings, which would in turn allow more vegetation between them.
Other changes included the addition of boardwalks to protect tree roots, and transplanting of some native trees.
Judge Prudence Steven and commissioners Wilkinson and James Baines also heard evidence from the applicant’s architecture, ecology and 3D visualisation consultants.
The hearing is expected to conclude today.
