KEY POINTS:
Queenstown'S pristine 155ha Walter Peak Resort could become the centre of a new development, after the property's consortium of Asian owners decided to sell.
Locations Realty Queenstown director Greg Ross said the property the destination for 100,000 visitors on the steamer TSS Earnslaw each year was placed on the market last week. Tenders close on November 30.
The 155ha block was subdivided from the much larger 25,899ha Walter Peak high country station in the late 1970s, and had passed through several hands before being bought by the present owners in 1991.
The block for sale included an 8.7ha section containing several historic buildings leased to Real Journeys and visited by Earnslaw passengers. The buildings included the historic Colonel's House, the original stone Middle House, Ardmore House, a manager's house, retail shop and shearing shed, Mr Ross said.
There was already strong interest from potential buyers around New Zealand and internationally, and the property was expected to fetch between $25 million and $50 million, he said.
Details of any sale would likely be announced within two weeks of the tender closing, although an international buyer would need the purchase approved by the Government's Overseas Investment Office, which could take up to six months, he said.
The land's special Walter Peak rural visitor zoning meant there was "huge" potential for a resort-style development, along the lines envisaged, but never realised, by previous owners, he said.
Development could take many shapes, potentially including a golf course retreat, hotel, residential subdivision, apartments or marina, Mr Ross believed.
"That was the aspiration of the previous owners. The aspirations of new owners could be similar, or someone could just want to build an exclusive home.
"Internationally, there's been several firm inquiries and also nationally... There's never a shortage of people interested in these sorts of properties,' he said.
QLDC Mayor Clive Geddes said a consent attached to the resort's title in the 1980s allowed for the construction of an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course, village centre and 800 apartments. The consent was attached when the resort's special visitor zone was established.
However, Lakes Environmental staff could not confirm yesterday whether the consent was still valid.
Real Journeys marketing general manager Robyn Jebson said when contacted the company would look to renegotiate its lease with a new owner when the present lease expired, on May 30, 2011.
The company's Walter Peak venture included farm excursions, heritage tours horse riding and dining, and attracted more than 100,000 visitors each year.
It would be "business as usual" until the lease expired and it was impossible to speculate about the impact any future development at Walter Peak would have on Earnslaw operations, she said.
"What happens after that would depend on who the purchasers are and what their intentions are," she said.
The resort can be reached by road and air, as well as by a 13km lake crossing from Queenstown.
Walter Peak Resort would be the last of a series of properties to be sold by the consortium of three Singaporean men who owned it, Mr Ross said.
The investors bought a parcel of 13 commercial buildings in Queenstown in 1991. They were sold three years ago, for a combined price of more than $60 million, he said. Another of their investments, the Henley Down station now part of the Jacks Point development, sold last year for more than $60 million, he said.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
