The house is on a 65ha block north of the Ladies Mile highway that’s being controversially rezoned for about 2400 residential units along with commercial and community facilities.
Greg Wensley owns 45% of the company, Winter Miles Airstream Ltd, that recently settled on the property at 495 Ladies Mile.
According to property records, it last sold for just $3.9 million in December 2019.
The latest sale was brokered by Premium Real Estate agent Hamish Walker, who confirmed it was concluded some time ago but would not comment further.
Greg is a director of Winter Miles Airstream along with his wife Olivia Wensley’s brother, Aucklander Eoin Miles.
Olivia last year contested the Queenstown-Lakes mayoralty — her campaign somewhat undermined by concerns ratepayers would be stumping up for leaky-home claims against Ross Wensley’s Oaks Shores development.
Asked this week about the Ladies Mile purchase, Greg said "we’re excited to be in there and help solve part of Queenstown’s housing crisis".
"And we think council’s masterplan is a really good outcome and will provide lots of facilities out in the Mile that families living in the area really desperately need, and those facilities will reduce the traffic congestion."
Asked about the steep increase in the property’s market value, he said "there’s a lot of potential out in Ladies Mile which is what’s shown in that masterplan".
An earlier sales blurb for 495 Ladies Mile revealed the property included a five-bedroom, two-bathroom, 270sq m house, landscaped grounds, two-car garage with a studio/office above and a tennis court.
Also on the property were horse paddocks, three stables, a tack room, three-bay implement shed for hay or vehicle storage and a consented helicopter hangar and helicopter pad.
Under the Ladies Mile masterplan developed by the Queenstown Lakes District Council — and now the subject of a proposed district plan variation which is out for public consultation — the northern part of the property would host high-density housing and the slice closest to the highway would part-host a new high school.
By Philip Chandler
