"We costed everything pre-Covid ... It just meant that over time, costs just kept rising.
"I held out as long as I could, but then we had a couple of cost increases which came through about six weeks ago and it just put it, really, to the point where we couldn't get funding.
"No-one will fund when you're building at a loss, so it was a pragmatic decision."
Hunt said all but one buyer in The Vines — which was to have comprised two-, three- and four-bedroom homes, priced, initially, from $1.2 million — had their deposit returned.
Four or five, including McCullum, had conditional contracts in The Reserve, comprising 33 sections, each about 2000sq m, priced from about $1.5 million, opposite the concert venue.
One of the first buyers there was former prime minister Sir John Key.
"We haven't walked away," Hunt said.
"We've offered these people the ... opportunity at The Reserve, and have offered to look after them at The Lodge if they come down."
The next development is The Rockery, also opposite the concert venue.
Titles on those 13 sections are expected in October, with work expected to start next year.
Work on the Greg Turner-designed nine-hole golf course and the Condon Scott-designed clubhouse would begin in spring,
He expected development of the underpass to start at the end of 2024 and, in 2025, work to start on the Vintner's Village, 2500sq m of commercial space on the same side of the highway as the concert venue.
The Vines would be resurrected at some point.
"Sometimes, you've just got to take a breath and go, 'OK, this is not the area we should be concentrating on now. There are factors outside our control ..."' Hunt said.
"Let's concentrate on the areas that we can control.
"Let's get those done."
