Housing on the horizon
Developers are getting their ducks in a row on three medium- and high-density housing projects in Queenstown.
The separate developments could provide 153 homes of different sizes for the town, which remains in the grip of an affordability and availability housing crisis.
Ngai Tahu Property (NTP) has submitted plans for the second stage of its Te Pā Tāhuna development on the old Wakaktipu High School site, just off Gorge Road.
It wants permission to build 66 apartments in three buildings at the rear of the massive overall site, with access off Sawmill Road. The buildings would be three-stories high, containing the one and two-bedroom apartments.
There would be 50 car parking spaces, for all of the two-bedroom units, except two, and visitors. None of the one-bedders would have a car park, but there would be sheds built to accommodate 70 bicycles.
The apartments appear relatively functional, rather than a luxury development, although all will have balconies. NTP has already built stage one of the Gorge Rd development, with 27 apartments in one building close to the roadside, some of which were sold through KiwiBuild.
NTP declined to comment on the plans at this stage.
Out along Frankton-Ladies Mile Highway, opposite Queenstown Central, Latitude 45 Development Limited has submitted plans for three townhouse buildings and one apartment building, all about 100m setback from SH6.
The apartment building would contain 20 units, while one terrace building would contain 20 townhouses, and the other two would contain five larger townhouses each. All would have a car parking space, communal for the apartments, private for the townhouses.
It would be the first development of the 27-hectare Frankton North land, stretching from Country Road opposite Queenstown Events Centre all the way to the back of Quail Rise, which could eventually provide 1000 homes. There are six parcels of land, owned by different landowners.
However, Latitude 45’s development might not do too much to alleviate the housing crisis - part of the application asks for resource consent for the properties to be used as residential visitor accommodation.
“The applicant proposes that each residential unit within the development may be used for residential and/or residential visitor accommodation purposes,” the application reads.
Other sections of the site 3.8ha site would be used for commercial and residential developments.
And further out of Queenstown, in the Shotover Country subdivision, another developer is proposing a multi-unit residential development of 35 units.
King Enterprises Limited Partnership wants permission to build on Stone Walls Terrace, the 7.8ha vacant land near Shotover Primary School. It already had resource consent for 24 units, but now plans 35 medium-density units.
The units are a mixture of one, two, three and four-bedroom properties, some with garages and all with at least one off-street parking spot. The application is currently on hold while affected parties’ approvals are sought.
“The development will have a positive effect in terms of contributing to the availability of quality affordable housing in the district,” the application reads.
