A virtually-complete three-level apartment block in central Queenstown incorporates some of the resort’s most affordable housing.
The first building in Ngāi Tahu Property’s residential development, Te Pā Tāhuna, on the former Wakatipu High School site, comprises 27 units, including 10 KiwiBuilds — Queenstown’s first — interspersed amongst them.
Those 10, which were massively oversubscribed, comprise one-bedroom units capped at $500,000, and two-bedders capped at $600,000 — they were available for qualifying buyers.
‘‘I don’t know of any other sort of one-bed or two-bed product in town, built of this quality, that is available at that price,’’ Ray White Queenstown listing agent Cam Reed says.
‘‘The exceptionally-pleasing thing, through this process, has been dealing with these first-home buyers.
‘‘A lot of them had given up on ever owning a property in Queenstown.’’
Reed says the balance of market-price property — with two-bedders up to $895,000 — was also well received.
The ground-floor units facing Gorge Road were sold as live-work units, as stipulated by the council.
‘‘At the front they’re like an office-type set-up and at the back you’ve got a one-bedroom apartment,’’ Reed explains.
He has ample praise for builder Naylor Love, particularly because of the Covid-induced disruptions of the past year — ‘‘I actually think they’ve done an incredible job’’ — and developer Ngāi Tahu Property.
‘‘They’re an incredibly-dedicated developer, so they haven’t done things quickly or by halves.
‘‘There’s a lot of amenity factor that’s gone into it.’’
Examples are the bike wash/repair station and extra storage for every apartment.
Code of compliance was issued two weeks ago, with titles expected soon.
Reed expects the next release, planned for next year, will feature similar product to the first.
‘‘While design is still being finalised, it looks like we’ll have more KiwiBuild product available for our first-home buyers, and that is truly exciting.’’
In the entire development there’ll be 300-plus apartments and townhouses, with about a third set aside for KiwiBuild buyers.
