Work will soon start on Wanaka’s $100million lakeside luxury apartment complex after more than a year of delays.
Work will begin on the Marina Terrace Apartments development in Lakeside Road on July 17.
Project manager Matt Tuck said it was a good feeling after two years of planning and hard work.
"We know every detail and every fitting and widget on site and now it’s a matter of handing it over to the construction team and letting them get on with it."
Breen Construction Ltd, of Alexandra, and Dominion Constructors Ltd, of Auckland, have the contract to build the complex.
Mr Tuck said in April last year, he hoped construction would start that July.
The delay was caused by a decline in the commercial property market in Australia which meant their New Zealand business were not lending money like
they had been, Mr Tuck said.
"It was very difficult for a long time for anybody to get funding but we are fortunate the guys at the Bank of New Zealand have shown faith in the project and now we’re kicking off."
Out of the 50 apartments, 35 had been sold at an average of $2million.
The complex will be built in three stages. The first, with 18 apartments, is expected to be completed in February 2019. The remaining stages would be completed in August 2019 and February 2020.
The original plans for the development included a restaurant but it had been replaced with an extra six apartments.
"Wanaka needed more accommodation and less restaurants so it was an easy decision really," Mr Tuck said.
To mark the start of the project, the Wanaka Primary School kapa haka group performed a waiata and the property was blessed yesterday morning.
Originally planned as a five-star hotel, the project was sold to Multiplied Investment Partners by Infinity Investment Group in 2015. The project was begun by
Infinity founder the late Bob Robertson, and the cornerstone investor in the current project is one of his friends, Wanaka businessman Peter Marshall.
