Queenstown’s council buys properties with plans to bowl at least one
Queenstown’s council’s spent almost $4 million on two CBD properties, one of which is destined to meet the wrecking ball.
Council media man Sam White says the council spent $2.2m on Gilmore Lodge, a four-bedroom, four-bathroom, two-level property on the corner of Henry and Shotover Streets in December, 2021.
At the same time, it snapped up the neighbouring 80 square metre property at 2B Shotover St — home to The Bead Shop for the past 19 years — for $1.77m.
White says the council purchased both for use by the Kā Huanui a Tāhuna Alliance, members of which are Waka Kotahi and the council, along with design and construction companies Beca, WSP, Downer New Zealand and Fulton Hogan.
Gilmore Lodge had been owned, for many years, by CCS Disability Action and used as a holiday home — the charity’s subsequently purchased a replacement holiday home in Arrowtown’s Patton Place.
White says part of the site’s needed for constructing the intersection as part of the first stage of the arterial route.
‘‘Use of the building itself since then has not been practical due to the on-site and adjacent construction work which has also restricted access to the lodge.
‘‘Council has an option to use the site as either a residential tenancy or development as part of the [Project] Manawa site once the intersection has been completed.’’
The Bead Shop owner Lee Eliott, however, is looking to sell her business of 23 years after being on a month-by-month lease ever since council bought the building, and ongoing uncertainty as to how long she’ll be able to stay there.
‘I can’t live with the uncertainty any more’
Eliott initially set up shop at 66 Stanley St, in a portion of the former SBS Bank site which wasn’t required, moving four years later to the Shotover St site.
After the property changed hands in ’21, she was informed by her new landlords, council, they were looking to demolish it — but she says she’s never been told why, or given a definitive end date.
Looking to sell: Owner of The Bead Shop, Lee Eliott, is hoping to find someone to buy her long-running business
She suspects council bought the building because it’s an ‘‘obstacle’’.
White, however, tells Mountain Scene they’re proposing to use the site to access an interim carpark, till it’s required for the main construction of Project Manawa, a proposed cultural and civic heart on Stanley St.
But Eliott says she can’t live with the uncertainty hanging over her head any more.
‘‘I’ve put the word out there I will keep the shop going for as long as I possibly can in that spot, but if I can find somebody that just can’t bear the idea of it closing down complete ly, and has the energy to move it to a secure spot [I’ll sell].’’
Eliott says she ‘‘had a tear in my eye’’ writing an ad for the sale of the business.
‘‘It’s been a long, hard road — sometimes I got so close to closing it up over the GFC years, 2010-’12, it was really tough.
‘‘It’s gone through so many metamorphosis, I suppose, and I’ve grown with it.’’
Apartments’ future up in the air
Queenstown Playcentre, at 57 Stanley Street, is also earmarked for demolition to make way for Project Manawa.
When asked if there are any other properties in that area of Henry or Shotover St Queenstown’s council owns, or is looking to purchase, with a view to bowling them, White says it already owns ‘‘a couple’’ of apartments on Ballarat St which have been impacted by the construction of the arterial road.
‘‘These could either be let as residential properties, or sold once the arterial project is complete.’’
