One of the Arthurs Points Woods turnkey cabin designs. Photo / Supplied
One of the Arthurs Points Woods turnkey cabin designs. Photo / Supplied
The word "unique" is tossed around a bit loosely in real estate circles, but it seems appropriate for a hillside cabin settlement being marketed at Queenstown's Arthurs Point.
Arthurs Point Woods — above Shotover Lodge and Swiss-Belresort Coronet Peak hotel — will eventually comprise 50 high-quality, eco-passive cabins linking up with the same developer's large Tree space project, directly above, on Mt Dewar.
The subdivision's already caught the imagination of the market, without going to the market, as such.
An artist's impression of Arthurs Points Woods. Photo / Supplied
Twenty-eight sites, spanning stages one and two and priced between $385,000 and $575,000, are already spoken for.
They range from 250 square metres to 800sq m, though they average 390sqm.
Colliers Queenstown's now offering another six sites, from 470 to 600sq m, priced from $475,000.
Six more are being held back till just before the subdivision's completed, however, later this year, the developer will also offer 10 turnkey options, based on two cabin designs.
Though the sites mightn't appear large, they all have clear views over the one below, and many have views as far away as Lake Wakatipu, as well as the Shotover River.
''The size of the site is devised to support a small-footprint cabin,'' developer Adam Smith says.
With an eight-metre height limit, cabins can also be built over two, or even three, levels.
He believes their sales success to date — many going to ''friends of friends of friends'' — shows many people are hungry for an alternative to ''a level subdivision or suburban format'' usually on offer, ''that's more akin to how people saw themselves living in the mountains, on the side of a hill, in a cabin in the woods''.
Colliers' Richie Heap, who's marketing Arthurs Point Woods with colleague Jesse Johnston, says: ''We're very out doorsy, fitness-type people, mountainous people, and due to the lack of options, we've been funnelling all these people into a Shotover Country or a Hanley's Farm.''
Smith: ''I think it connects more with how Queenstown was first settled, which was in smaller cabins and cribs on the hillside.''
With the first 28 sales, Smith says he and the agents have ensured buyers are aligned with the settlement's design, environmental and community ethos.
A cabin design: High-quality design outcome. Photo / Suppiled
''We're looking for a really high-quality design outcome.
''They'll be built out of a singular material, either natural timber or stone, and there's a design review board to make sure everyone's building something that's going to work really well there.
''We've tried to select people who are going to live here permanently, to form the community — you cannot speculate on the land, and you have to build.''
The environmental covenants, mirroring the Treespace project, include restrictions on pets.
Smith expects titles will come through towards the end of next year.
That gives buyers 12 to 18 months ''to design something great'', and also line up a builder, he says.
Heap, who likens Arthurs Point Woods to ''a little Italian ski village'', concludes: ''It's really exciting to be part of a project like this because it's some thing so different from what we're usually after.''
