Development work’s expected to start soon on the largest residential subdivision close to central Queenstown.
The developers of the 33-hectare Silver Creek, high above Frankton Rd, are in the final throes of obtaining resource consent for 15 neighbourhoods that will ultimately accommodate 580 house lots.
Father-and-son Gavin and Josh Moore and another local investor bought the then heavily-forested site two years ago from Queenstown Hill’s Middleton family.
Last year they launched to market the first of 46 house sites — ranging from about 460 to 2000 square metres — for a gated community at the top of their subdivision called, aptly, The Summit.
Already 15 sites, priced from $2.5 million, have been spoken for.
Thirteen house-and-land packages for the Creekside neighbourhood — above The Tiers apartment complex — were subsequently released, of which six have sold for about $2.4m a pop.
A showhome is also planned here.
The latest release is the lower-priced Sycamore Grove, below The Summit, in which sections will fetch about $800,000 each, with house-and-land packages selling for about $1m more.
Both flat and sloping sections, all with formed building platforms, will be available for sale.
Recognising the huge demand for worker housing, the developers are also looking to build about 100 units to sell to investors.
They’ll probably be one-bed and studio apartments, though there’ll be two-bed options if there’s demand.
‘‘We’ll start going to the market with some product and then see where the demand is,’’ Josh Moore says.
Exahustively planned: From left, developers Gavin and Josh Moore and sales and marketing manager Peter Bennetts
Silver Creek sales and marketing manager Peter Bennetts believes ‘‘what this development will do for the local economy, because of the work that’s planned for here, will be huge’’.
The location is unique, he suggests.
‘‘When you look at the vista, at the Remarkables mountain range, you have to go a long way to find a better view.’’
Then you add how the area’s midway between the CBD and Frankton — seven minutes’ drive either way, if you’re not caught in a traffic jam.
Compared with housing just above Frankton Rd, Bennetts says the area also gets a surprising amount of sun, especially early in the day.
The developers say planning’s been an exhaustive process, especially as the proposed district plan has increased the area’s development potential compared to the operative district plan.
They’ve had to prove full services can be provided to the 580 house lots, while also linking in with council’s own planned infrastructure upgrades and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s plans for Frankton Rd upgrades.
‘‘I think that’s a reasonable number of houses for the size of the land, we’ll have quite generous-sized sites,’’ Josh says.
About 2.5km of internal roading is also planned.
There’s also provision for biking/walking trails across to Windsor Place and to the top of the Queenstown Hill track.
In time, Silver Creek’s roading from western Gold field Heights to Middleton Rd could even become part of a high-road alternative to
Frankton Rd, the developers say.
