Billion-dollar subdivision a remarkable site for houses

An artist's impression of a completed house at Jacks Point.

A Fletcher Building subsidiary is putting up the first 10 houses on land it has bought as part of the $1 billion Jacks Point subdivision near Queenstown.

Mark Binns, Fletcher infrastructure division head, said Fletcher Living - part of Fletcher Residential - would build 200 houses on 650 sq m sections and he had worked closely with Fletcher Residential chief David Halsey to structure the deal.

Work had begun on putting up the first two- and three-bedroom homes.

The 420ha Jacks Point land, about 10 minutes south of Frankton and 15 minutes from Queenstown, is considered one of the country's most exclusive subdivisions.

It lies on the edge of Lake Wakatipu and has The Remarkables mountain range as its backdrop.

When the Queenstown Lakes District Council approved the Jacks Point zone in 2003, predictions were that the land could take a $1 billion development.

Binns could give no price indication but the first Fletcher houses are expected to fetch more than $1 million each and will be finished progressively between February next year and 2010.

A championship golf course is also planned as part of the wider Jacks Point development, a challenge to Millbrook resort with its 18-hole international course.

In January last year, Fletcher Residential got Overseas Investment Commission approval to buy a $45 million interest in Jacks Point Ltd, which included plans for the 200 homes, which represent about a quarter of the development.

Trans Tasman Property executive chairman Don Fletcher owns a 30 per cent interest in Jacks Point with associates John Darby and Mike Coburn.

TTP executive director Rod Hodge is also a director of Jacks Point Land Holdings.

The group bought into the project for a reported $7.9 million, had the land re-zoned and revalued at $19.3 million, then sold 200 sections to Fletcher Residential for $45 million and got more for 250 sections sold to Hanover Property.

A subsidiary of Trans Tasman Properties' parent company, SEA Holdings, held an initial interest in Jacks Point but sold out two years ago.

Binns said another subsidiary, Fletcher Construction, had a $750 million backlog of work waiting to be completed, much of it for infrastructure such as roads, hospitals and hotels.

Fletcher Construction's major jobs are the Northern Busway Project, North Shore, $191 million; Wellington regional hospital in Newtown, $140 million; Auckland University business school, $130 million; Tauranga Hospital, $100 million; Pohokura gas production station, Taranaki, $91 million; completion of Spaghetti Junction upgrade and Nelson St offramp in Auckland, $69 million; Holiday Inn in Wellington by Melview Developments, $65 million; rebuild of Wellington's Maritime Building, $60 million; Viaduct Basin hotel for Melview Developments, $44 million; Rangitoto channel dredging job, $39 million; road widening and the Esmonde Rd interchange at Takapuna, $38 million; and restoration and refurbishment of St Patrick's Catholic Cathedral in Auckland's central business district, $12 million.

Next week, Hanover Properties will begin promoting its involvement in the Jacks Point project and development of its land, The Highlands.

It has just sent out information on its part in the Queenstown deal.

"Hanover Properties is about to lift the lid on Queenstown's best-kept secret," it will tell guests invited to its promotion next Tuesday.

A Queenstown launch is planned next Thursday, on the eve of the opening of the town's Winter Festival.


FLETCHER BUILDING

* Revenue: $5.5 billion.

* Market capitalisation: $3.5 billion.

* The third-largest listed entity.

* Listed on NZX and ASX.

* Employs more than 14,000 people.