Contracts cancelled
Covid aftermath: Gibbston resort makes ‘pragmatic’ decision
COVID has stymied part of a planned housing development included in the $750 million, 400ha Gibbston Valley Resort.
Gibbston Valley Winery chief executive Greg Hunt said the developers made the ‘‘practical’’ and ‘‘pragmatic’’ decision to cancel the contracts on the 28 properties in The Vines residential housing development about a month ago.
Mr Hunt said sales went ‘‘exceptionally well’’ when the sections hit the market just before Christmas in 2020.
One was bought by former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum, while rugby identity Glen Jackson put his name on a twobedroom home while in a quarantine hotel — so contracts were entered early, ‘‘then Covid hit’’.
‘‘Who could have ever predicted [what would happen]?’’ Mr Hunt said.
‘‘We costed everything preCovid . . . It just meant that over time, costs just kept rising.
‘‘I held out as long as I could, but then we had a couple of cost increases which came through about six weeks ago and it just put it, really, to the point where we couldn’t get funding.
‘‘Noone will fund when you’re building at a loss, so it was a pragmatic decision.’’
Mr Hunt said all but one buyer in The Vines — which was to have comprised two, three and fourbedroom homes, priced, initially, from $1.2 million — had their deposit returned.
Four or five, including Mr McCullum, had conditional contracts in The Reserve, comprising 33 sections, each about 2000sq m, priced from about $1.5 million, opposite the concert venue.
One of the first buyers there was former prime minister Sir John Key.
‘‘We haven’t walked away,’’ Mr Hunt said.
‘‘We’ve offered these people the . . . opportunity at The Reserve, and have offered to look after them at The Lodge if they come down.’’
The next development is The Rockery, also opposite the concert venue.
Titles on those 13 sections are expected in October, with work expected to start next year.
Work on the Greg Turner-designed ninehole golf course and the Condon Scottdesigned clubhouse would begin in spring,
He expected development of the underpass to start at the end of 2024 and, in 2025, work to start on the Vintner’s Village, 2500sq m of commercial space on the same side of the highway as the concert venue.
The Vines would be resurrected at some point.
‘‘Sometimes, you’ve just got to take a breath and go, ‘OK, this is not the area we should be concentrating on now. There are factors outside our control . . .’ ’’ Mr Hunt said.
‘‘Let’s concentrate on the areas that we can control.
‘‘Let’s get those done.’’