Auckland-based developer Tony Gapes has scrapped plans for a 71-unit apartment building near Queenstown’s CBD, in favour of a 200-plus-bed hotel.
Gapes, the original developer of Frankton’s Five Mile Shopping Centre, got consent in 2021 for Hylton Park Residences, with a retail value of about $40 million, on the corner of Gorge Rd and Hylton Pl, beside FreshChoice Queenstown.
That development, of 40 one-bedroom apartments, priced from $429,000, and 31 two-bedders, starting at $619,000, was soft-launched before consent was lodged — in the first week, about 20 were placed on hold by prospective buyers.
Now, though, Gapes is going for a 204-bed hotel on the 2298 square metre site through Alloway Development Trust.
A fresh consent application lodged for Hylton Hotel Ltd says the buildings would be six storeys, with a maximum building height of 21.4m, n breaching the 20m height limit.
‘‘The building will be locally appropriate in terms of its built form and scale, and will continue to contribute positively to the wider Queenstown area,’’ the application, prepared by B&A Urban & Environmental, says.
‘‘When taking into account the level of development anticipated by the business mixed-use zone, and the high-quality of built form and design proposed, it is considered that any visual amenity or streetscape effects arising from the development will be less than minor.’’
The application says the proposal will create a ‘‘positive street edge’’ due to the ‘‘wrap around’’ with the hotel lobby, cafe and restaurant amenities proposed on the ground floor.
A veranda is planned along the corner, with outdoor seating to the immediate north of the proposed hotel — about half the hotel rooms, all of which will be one-bedders, will overlook either Gorge Rd or Warren Park.
Twenty-seven carparks are planned, as well as a pick-up and drop-off area for buses.
Gapes, who couldn’t be reached for comment, also developed The Alex, directly opposite the proposed hotel’s site, a 52-unit residential development with ground-floor retail on the corner of Gorge Rd and Hallenstein St.
In 2020, he told Mountain Scene he also had big plans for the nearby former Carters building supplies property, also on Gorge Rd, where he was proposing a twin hotel development with 400-plus rooms and commercial/hospitality tenancies, which Swiss-Belhotel International would manage.
Queenstown’s council is currently vetting the Hylton Hotel application, which Gapes is proposing be processed non-notified.
