A $750 million golfing and housing resort is being planned for a quiet valley near Queenstown and Sir John Key says he's planning to buy a plot at the site.
Gibbston Valley Resort is a proposed development with a nine-hole golf course, 180 visitor-accommodation places and 120 homes.
Greg Hunt,chief executive of Gibbston Valley, plans to build the resort on part of the 400ha Gibbston Valley Station, which he owns with American Phil Griffith and his family.
At the same time, he has applied to build a retreat lodge and another 20 units nearby on an upper plateau of the station. The two schemes are within five minutes' drive of each other, Hunt says.
Former Prime Minister Sir John Key said he was going to buy a section on the golf course.
"It's a beautiful spot and I just like the fact that there's a golf course on the doorstep and it's a very integrated development. They're going to create a little destination."
An office showroom to promote the planned resort will open on Monday at the Gibbston Valley Winery, on State Highway 6, where a 24-room lodge and spa was developed last year.
Housing plans for the scheme. Photo / Supplied
A scheme for the station has been long-planned, first granted consent in 2009 but for a much smaller project of only 106 visitor accommodation units.
The golf course and resort were permitted after the land was rezoned last December and resource consents for the first 132 homes had been applied for, Hunt said.
Greg Turner had designed the proposed nine-hole course at the resort where people of all skill levels could play, he said. A Vintner's Village would have restaurants, a farmer's market, shops, garden and wine centre.
Hunt has plenty of experience with developments. He was general manager of development and landscape architecture for Millbrook Resort from 1993 to 2000. After that, he was general manager of developer Infinity Investment Group and involved in Pegasus Town 25km north of Christchurch.
Homes at the planned new resort. Photo / Supplied
Hunt said homebuyers in the Gibbston Valley scheme could have their places tenanted if they were not living at the planned resort permanently.
"A likely model of funding is one where investors can own a visitor accommodation unit, but have it managed through the Gibbston Valley Management Company. In addition to a return on their investment, it would be attractive to investors if they could, for a reduced fee, stay in their own units for reasonable lengths of time during the year," he told the hearings panel in May.
He expects buyers to come from Auckland, Australia and America.
The quiet Gibbston Valley. Photo / Supplied
Covid had altered plans "but not interrupted the scheme. We've continued and we're recognising that out of the pandemic, New Zealand has developed a great reputation and is a place people will want to visit which we believe will lead to a rise in tourism once the borders reopen and people seek holiday homes".
Hunt says he is an owner of the 400ha station, winery and planned resort with Phil Griffith and his family.
