This developer sold $100m in luxury Queenstown apartments without even listing

Monday, 19 February 2024

Buyer demand for Queenstown's Lakeview Te Taumata on Man Street has been very strong, its developer says.

A Melbourne-based developer is promising to “transform the cityscape of Queenstown” with a $2 billion leisure precinct in the heart of the once quaint ski town.

Construction is due to begin on The Lakeview Taumata development at the end of 2024, on the former site of a holiday park campground.

Stage one of the development, due by 2026, is made up of three buildings of nine to 12 storeys with a total of 224 apartments.

Over the next 10 years it will also include four hotels - one of them six star - as well as restaurants, bars and a yet-to-be-revealed hot pools attraction.

Mark Harris of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty said his firm had sold $100m worth of apartments in the last three months, before they had even been listed on the market.

That was through the company’s database of keen investors.

Construction is due to begin on The Lakeview Taumata development on Man Street in Queenstown at the end of 2024.

“[The development] is really what central Queenstown has needed… A lot of clients don’t want rural acreage, they want apartments that are low maintenance that they can use while they are here.”

Around 70% of the buyers so far had been Australian, with the remainder being a mix of American and Kiwi.

Harris said that Queenstown was popular among Aussies because it was like a slice of Europe that was only three hours away.

“They like the hiking, the lakes and the vineyards, not to mention snow sports… It sometimes gets called the Aspen of the Southern Hemisphere.”

The development is a partnership between Melbourne firm 94 Feet and Centuria Capital, an investment fund manager with $21b worth of assets.

Centuria chief executive Mark Francis said the company had long held aspirations of setting up a tourism real estate fund with Queenstown property as a seed asset.

It's a cliffhanger, but the view more than makes up for this treacherous Grand Designs build by six families.

“I feel this a bit of a turning point for Queenstown… it’s the next step in the evolution of the town, making it more of an international destination.

“There will be economic benefits.”

The land was sold through tender by the Queenstown Lakes District Council in 2019. It is understood that the deal was worth $77m, but that would be paid in steps upon the completion of various stages.

Centuria’s Mark Francis says Queenstown is at a turning point.

At the time of the sale, RNZ reported that around 300 low wage workers were living in the campground at the site and would be displaced. The town is notoriously difficult for finding affordable accommodation.

The new Lakeview development will have housing at many different price points. That includes the penthouses, which are still up for grabs for a price tag of $25.5m.

However, studio apartments in the brand new luxury precinct are priced from $780,000. That’s about what Aucklanders might expect to pay for a 1970s block unit in Sandringham.

Francis said there would also be a “co-living” component to the new buildings with 94 rooms for rent with shared facilities.

“It’s new territory for Queenstown, while still trying to be sympathetic,” he said