$500m growth plan for Queenstown's Millbrook

Resort salesman Austin Bragg (left), Greg Turner (centre) and Ben O'Malley discuss the $500 million expansion plan for Millbrook Resort. Picture / Otago Daily Times

Millbrook Resort in Queenstown will more than double in size in the next seven years under a $500 million development plan.

Some 200 new houses will be built on 91ha west of the existing 143-home resort, land Millbrook has bought since the late 1980s.

A Greg Turner-designed nine-hole golf course and a driving range are planned.

Resource consent applications will be lodged with the Queenstown Lakes District Council within a few months.

Millbrook property and development manager Ben O'Malley expects 90 per cent of the scheme to comply with the district plan.

It will be carried out in four stages. Stage one will use 60ha, including the new golf course and driving range. It will be built on the existing driving range and where the Millbrook concerts were staged, and comprise 29 house and land packages and 29 land-only sites.

The land-only sections will range from 1500 to 3200sq m, the largest lots at the resort to date. Mr O'Malley expects buyers of these sections to build "large, grand homes".

He said the land and house packages would be 700sq m to 1300sq m, with "mews cottage-style" houses.

He declined to comment on what prices were expected.

The first stage is expected to go on the market by spring, with work starting in autumn next year.

The other three stages will be developed on the remaining 31ha in the next seven to eight years, depending on demand. Section sizes will range from 700 to 8000sq m.

The final stage will be closest to the village centre of the resort, bordering the neighbouring property of Waterfall Park.

Mr O'Malley said its zoning meant visitor accommodation could be developed, plus restaurants, bars and conference facilities. There were no plans for this type of development at present, but the resort needed to remain "flexible".

Most of the 91ha fell into the Millbrook Resort Zone, making it easier for this type and scale of development to go ahead, he said.

A "substantial" number of potential buyers had already indicated interest, although he declined to give numbers.

Three-quarters of Millbrook homeowners are New Zealanders.

Mr O'Malley expects the number of permanent residents to grow, from less than 10 per cent now to about 25 to 30 per cent because the development is farther from the resort's village centre with separate access.

The target market for the new development is "high net worth" New Zealanders, North Americans and Europeans.

Mr O'Malley said the completed development would have an estimated value of more than $500 million, with each house averaging $2.5 million, based on today's prices. Zoning rules allowed Millbrook to develop up to 307 homes, but at this stage it was unlikely more than 207 would be built to avoid "cramming".

Ninety-eight per cent of Millbrook is owned by the Too Corporation, which belongs to the Ishii family of Japan. Mr O'Malley said they had been shareholders since the resort began 18 years ago and one of the sons lived in Arrowtown.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES