Fronting both major thoroughfare Shotover St and Duke St, the CBD property, which is ripe for redevelopment, has been in the same family for about 50 years.
It houses two long-term tenants — Highland Real Estate, trading as Harcourts, which has ground floor and first floor offices, and Browns Ski Shop, which has operated from ground floor premises since 1980.
Real estate legend, the late Doug Brown, bought the property when it had a fruit shop, and operated his business, Queenstown Real Estate, from there.
Through D.M. Brown Ltd, the property’s now held by his four sons, Nigel, Derek, Maurice and Julian, who have decided it’s time to pass on the baton.
It’s being marketed by local New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agents Russell Reddell and Matt Finnigan by way of a tender closing next Wednesday.
Reddell says "the building’s stood the test of time and [hosted] multiple businesses and brought millions of dollars into the Queenstown economy over the years, and now it’s probably getting to the age where it’s ready for a new life and a new look and feel".
Under its current zoning, a new building could go 12 metres high or a discretionary 14m, and under the proposed district plan "there’s provision for parts of the property to be up to 23m high", Reddell says.
Both tenants’ leases expire in 2027, giving a new owner time to plan any new development — Reddell suggests those tenants would probably be open to negotiation over carrying on in new premises.
He adds the appeal of the CBD’s also increased lately due to infrastructure and street upgrades.
According to the information memorandum, the existing premises are "under-rented" — under ‘assessed market rent’ it’d be $487,035 plus GST per annum.
The rateable value’s $11.8million, however Reddell says "we’re not putting any price indication out there".
He notes they’ve already had good interest from far and wide.
"I think people have been looking at Queenstown for a while for those commercial opportunities — they don’t come up very often."
