The company Five Under Par Ltd will now have nine months to secure funding and provide sufficient financial information, a business plan and a final design.
If satisfied with the provided information, Christchurch City Council will enter into a lease with the company.
The complex will include a mini golf course, a 40-bay golf driving range, batting cages for softball, cricket and baseball, function rooms and a cafe, and a pro shop.
Alternate plans would be made for an eight-lane sack slide as the proposed area was not included in the available areas for lease.
Said board chair Kelly Barber: “It’s very nice to see people prepare to take that risk to do something for the community.”
Board member Linda Stewart said she was happy to see the plan go through.
“It’s an element that we’ve been waiting for as QEII Park is in the middle of both wards and it’s a perfect location with the expressway.”
“This makes a total lease term of 35 years less one day,” he said.
The idea of bringing golf back to QEII first occurred to sole director of the company Chris Bond about five years ago.
He was a former staff member at the Ascot driving range – the golf course that previously occupied the site.
Said Bond: “[I] had so much fun working in the shop helping run the complex.”
He said the complex will benefit all of Canterbury. About 25 retail and hospitality staff will be employed at the facility.
It is estimated the facility would open in about three or four years, Bond said.
