Near $100m tipped for Queenstown area deal
Developer seeks partners for land where town centre will rise
International and local developers are being offered 9ha of land near Queenstown in what could be one of the area’s top real estate deals, anticipated to be in the $100 million vicinity.
John Darby, a director of the company selling that land, has also just announced an $80m hotel plan for Jack’s Point Village, the golfing and residential community on the shores of Lake Tewa and across the Kawarau River from Queenstown.
The commercially-zoned flat greenfields site at Jack’s Point is being marketed as “10 minutes from Queenstown Airport”. Via agency CBRE, Jack’s Point Village Holdings is seeking expressions of interest in the land, to be the site of a new town centre at what is now a luxury golfing and residential community at the foot of The Remarkables.
One party close to the deal said given high Queenstown values, the 9ha could sell for just under $100m.
A CBRE study cited the town’s median residential house sale price reaching $1m, “making it the most expensive market in New Zealand, ahead of Auckland”. Apartment and unit prices are approaching $700,000 and growth forecasts were for a 90 per cent population gain in the next 30 years.
Jack’s Point Village, 9km from Queenstown Airport, is expected to be developed in the next few years and estimated to have buildings worth more than $500m.
The two-stage offer for freehold land ends on September 19 and in late October, according to the information memorandum. Ten mixed-use lots ranging from just under half a hectare to 1.7ha are marketed.
Once completed, the new village is expected to be worth more than $500m, with a range of shops, cafes, restaurants, hotels, offices, homes and other uses.
Darby said yesterday: “We are going to be announcing a 160-room hotel. We are well advanced for our hotel plans.”
That $80m scheme is part of his longer-term vision for the site, being marketed as a village to offer new “homes, hotels, flexible office space, restaurants, cafes and quality retail to create an exciting place to live, work and visit.”
The vendor company’s directors are Darby and Mark Coburn and Darby yesterday described how he sees the process of the new village development going.
“We very much are developing Jack’s Village. It’s unlikely we will divest it in its entirety. We are interested in collaborating with wellqualified parties who can contribute something and it’s just not capital. In this case, one and one equals three,” he said referring to combined power between his forces and other parties.
CBRE is not only offering the 9ha in 10 lots but the company has also offered for sale the well-established 932sq m Jack’s Point’s golf clubhouse and restaurant, sitting on a further 0.53ha.
Darby said that was being offered for sale and he talked of reasons behind the area’s expansion.
“The driver of Arrowtown’s village development was the gold rush. For Devonport, it was maritime uses. Jack’s Point Village’s drivers are residential and visitor needs,” Darby said, estimating more than 1200 people could work, live or stay there.
The area also had New Zealand’s fastest internet speeds “which means the software and tech businesses are interested”.
The information memorandum says the 9ha site is “flat, readily buildable land and the overall development plan has been granted consent from the Queenstown Lakes District Council. The work to reticulate services throughout the village is largely completed and the civil infrastructure stage covering the remainder of the village is now under way.”
Jack’s Point housing sites in areas so far developed have ranged from around $400,000 to more than $3m.
The 9ha is not classified as “sensitive” under the Overseas Investment Act, therefore foreign buyers might well not need Overseas Investment Office clearance. Because the land is likely to be sold to a number of different parties, sales are likely to be below the $100m threshold, again not needing OIO clearance.
Darby outlined how already a 5ha block of residentially zoned land at the point’s heart had been sold: “That went to Classic Builders and Southern Lakes Group,” he said.
No figure has been put on that sale but it is expected to have sold for more than $25m.
Darby said many partners might be involved, the hotel and mixed-use buildings could be in the first stage and the project could take more than five years.
“We’re the curators of the village and we’re looking for partners . . . with different skills.”
Brent McGregor of CBRE said the memorandum had just gone out: “We are anticipating good interest from local and international groups, particularly those focused on quality development opportunities. We are also expecting interest from branded hotel and boutique hotel developer operators.”
The information memo said Jack’s Point zone encompassed 1270ha and was identified in 1988 as “a future potential settlement area to accommodate the region’s growth”.
Of the 9ha, 5.14ha is ear-marked for hotels and visitor accommodation, 3.3ha for mixed use and 0.53 ha is the clubhouse and restaurant.
And like the Porter’s Remarkables Park, Jack’s Point is playing the sunny-side factor.
“While central Queenstown is in shade, Jack’s Point is bathed in sunlight and enjoys spectacular sunsets,” the information memorandum says.
We are interested in collaborating with well-qualified parties who can contribute something and it’s just not capital. John Darby (above), director, Jack’s Point Village Holdings