Auckland developer sealed Five Mile deal

Auckland developer Tony Gapes has bought stage two of Queenstown's beleaguered Five Mile development.

Mr Gapes, of Queenstown Gateway Ltd, confirmed to the Otago Daily Times yesterday he had bought the 23.3ha property from Allied Farmers.

David Mahoney, of Tawera Group, had signed an unconditional contract to buy the property on July 15, but that deal fell through because Mr Gapes had right of refusal.

"I can confirm we did exercise our option. We had 10 days to make our minds up. That expired on Monday and that was when we went unconditional," he said.

He refused to say how much he bought the property for, except to say "too much".

"We had to match David Mahoney's offer," he said.

The Mountain Scene reported the deal as being worth $27 million.

Mr Gapes also declined to comment on his plans for the development.

"We will continue with the plan change for the site which has been approved for retail, residential, industrial and commercial uses," he said.

Plan change 19, Frankton Flats B is under appeal in the Environment Court.

Eleven parties have appealed the plan change, including Queenstown Gateway Ltd.

"There are lots of parties appealing the plan change. It's all about aspects of it. We will continue to appeal parts of it which affect stage one. There are aspects we want to change, just minor stuff," Mr Gapes said.

Mr Gapes bought the first stage of Five Mile last November from Hanover Finance.

The 7ha stage one includes Hendo's Hole, a large area of earthworks next to State Highway 6.

Progressive Enterprises, which owns Woolworths, Countdown, Fresh Choice, Foodtown and Dick Smith brands, provided a portion of the $21 million purchase price.

Mr Gapes said Progressive Enterprises was not involved in the stage two sale.

"I see a lot of synergies in owning both stage one and two, for us and Queenstown. It will be a much better development because we own both," he said.

He said plans for stage one were progressing well, but he could not confirm Progressive Enterprises would be opening a store there.

Allied Farmers managing director Rob Alloway refused to comment when contacted on Tuesday.

"I am not going to comment on who the buyer was or the structure of who has bought it. It has been sold unconditionally."

David Mahoney, of Tawera Group, told the Otago Daily Times, he was "nearly" the buyer, but the deal collapsed this week.

"We are not the buyer, unfortunately.

We are the party that went unconditional, but there was another party that had first right of refusal and had 10 days to decide if they wanted it."

Allied Farmers took over the Five Mile land as part of the purchase of Hanover last year.

Mr Alloway did not disclose how much was paid for stage two, but said it was "nearing the upper end of the valuation scale".

The sum was also a "reasonable amount" more than the $23.2 million value of the property as recorded in the half-year accounts.