An elevated, high-density site only a stone’s throw from Queenstown’s CBD is being touted for its potential for either holiday apartments or workers’ accommodation.
The 1012 square metre site, at 7 Turner St, contains a two-storey, four-bedroom home — currently rented out long-term — that was built in the 1960s.
Though extended in 1997, it’s seen better days.
Local IQ owner/consultant Simon Green, who is marketing the property, says it’s special as it’s so close to the CBD yet elevated just enough to give you a view over town and up the lake.
‘‘Personally, I think there’s a really strong case for workers’ accommodation just because of the position of it.’’
In 2019, the property’s Australian owners received resource consent for a luxury six-unit, four-level apartment complex designed by local-based Wyatt + Gray Architects that allowed it to be used for full-time visitor accommodation.
It largely followed the 10m height limit, however two neighbours lodged proceedings, claiming council policy and zone rules had been
breached, and the application should have been notified.
The council acknowledged correct procedure hadn’t been followed, but didn’t believe its ‘‘substantive decision’’ would have been different if the application had been notified.
As a result, the property’s owners surrendered the consent and didn’t seriously pursue any new plans.
Option: An artist’s impression of an abandoned design for multi-level apartments which a new owner could reactivate
Council has now resolved to pursue an ‘urban intensification variation’ to its proposed district plan, which is due to be advertised for submissions this month.
Under this variation, the height plane for a development in an area like Turner St could go to 16.5m and its density could increase to 70%.
Green says the sales process for this Turner St property ‘‘is kind of an acid test to see how the market’s going to react to this urban intensification variation, because the timeline on that is an unknown’’.
‘‘Some [prospective buyers] will elect to sit and wait, ’cos you wouldn’t want to go ahead and develop to current zoning and then find you could have gone two or three or four or five metres higher, a year later.’’
Green says there’s been interest so far for a range of uses including just refurbishing the existing house.
‘‘That area of town feels like it’s the next cab off the rank for the next generation of development.
‘‘It’s where town’s headed, and logically so.’’
The sales process is ‘price by negotiation’.
The property’s capital valuation is $2,980,000, all but $50,000 of which is land value.
Green is tipping it’ll fetch more than this figure.
