Castle Hill site for sale in resort bid
Castle Hill founder John Reid thinks someone should build an international resort near the settlement he established – for $10 million he will sell them the land to do it.
Reid owns a 17-hectare site at the small inland Canterbury settlement, which is on Porters Pass near the upper Waimakariri River. He has obtained council permission to build a holiday park on the land.
He also had plans for a fullscale resort there – something like the upscale Terrace Downs golf and tourist resort in MidCanterbury near the top of the Rakaia River.
But Reid has decided to sell his land, which is across the road from Castle Hill, on State Highway 73 about 97 kilometres northwest of Christchurch.
He is asking $10m, plus GST.
Reid has had both successful and unsuccessful developments over a long property career in Canterbury and Central Otago and has been bankrupted twice, owing a total of $45m to creditors. He is now aged 82.
One of his projects was the founding of Castle Hill, which he successfully fought to establish by subdividing farming land for housing more than 40 years ago.
His early plan for another piece of Castle Hill land included an airstrip, a monorail and an 18-hole international golf course. That project collapsed, owing about $8m.
He recently sold further land for residential sections at the settlement.
Reid is also involved in a deal to purchase and re-sell land for an agricultural industrial park at Rakaia.
The land he is selling at Castle Hill has a consent from the Selwyn District Council for 16 cabins, a restaurant, bar and clubhouse, a manager’s residence, campervan parking facilities, and a tent area with an open-air stage.
The consent was granted in 2015, with an extension granted last year.
None of the construction has taken place, however. The land now contains a nine-hole golf course and some old buildings.
Reid said he was in the process of developing a further proposal – a hotel and spa with between 60 and 80 units or apartments.
Permission for such development would require either changes to the council’s district plan or a notified resource consent, he said.
He said his company, Castle Hill Adventure Tours Ltd, had already made a submission on zoning issues as part of the council’s district plan review.
Reid said that while the proposal was his, he would like someone else to take it on. ‘‘There is a lack of some sort of hotel/ spa development in that area, near the Waimakariri [River]. There could be a hotel of some form or international visitor accommodation on the site.
‘‘After Covid, there will be a lot more demand for tourism property. There is good local demand for the camping ground.’’
Reid said he would consider a split or joint development, with him developing the holiday park and someone else tackling the resort.
The property has been on the market for several months.