A prime Queenstown hospitality and entertainment precinct is going on the market just two summers after opening for business.
Upper Village, below the Skyline gondola on Brecon St, is 98% leased and includes 10-pin bowling alley and entertainment centre, Kingpin, its largest tenancy, and hospo venues The Bavarian Beerhaus, locally-owned Miss Rita’s Cantina and Queenstown Ice Bar, Wahlburgers, Max Brenner and newly-opened Anita Gelato.
Altogether there’s 4836 square metres of lettable area with a full-leased net operating annual income of $3,316,819.
There are also annual rent reviews which are the greater of the consumer price index or 3%.
The centre’s being jointly marketed in New Zealand, Australia and further afield by local Colliers agents Mark Simpson and Rory O’Donnell and Australia’s JLL, with expressions of interest closing March 4.
Ben Grootemaat, a director of Brisbane-based developer Engage Group, says it was always planned to sell the centre once it was built, majority tenanted and up and running.
Developing it during Covid was challenging, however he says they are ‘‘really happy with the outcome’’.
‘‘Everyone’s going really well.’’
He believes they’ve attracted ‘‘such big-brand tenants’’ due to its architecture ‘‘and the whole flow and feel of it’’.
Grootemaat says it’s long been his contention, due to the Skyline redevelopment, the looming nearby Lakeview complex and its linkage with
downtown, Brecon St will be come the CBD’s busiest street.
‘‘A lot of people didn’t see that when we bought the site but I think that’s becoming obvious now.’’
Another reason for selling, he says, is to redeploy capital for a project on the other side of Brecon St where they’ve bought two houses above the Radisson hotel site on the Man St corner.
‘‘We’re looking at developing another tourism asset that’s going to complement what we’ve already done.’’
Meanwhile, Simpson says ‘‘we haven’t had a brand-new, high-quality CBD asset like this come to the market for a long time’’.
‘‘For that reason it’ll be seen as a bit of a trophy asset.
‘‘I think it’s actually a key project connecting the CBD to things like the gondola and Lakeview.
‘‘The other thing too is, particularly in winter, we haven’t had a lot of indoor activity product for tourists, so that is providing a number of options on that front, particularly Kingpin.’’
The Queenstown Town Centre-zoned property has a rateable capital value of $61million, of which $20.05m is land value.
