Land once earmarked for a multimillion-dollar development by a Wakatipu farmer is now pegged for a retirement village.
The $105 million lifestyle village, a joint venture between the Monk family, of Queenstown, and the Anderson family, from Wanaka and Dunedin, is planned for 12ha of land on McDonnell Rd, alongside The Hills golf course.
Originally that land was set to contain Arrowtown South, a staged subdivision that would, on completion, comprise 215 homes on 17ha of land with 12ha as publicly accessible open space and a 1ha ''community hub'' featuring a village store, child-care centre and other facilities.
Ultimately, that plan was scuppered when the Queenstown Lakes District Council voted to put a boundary around the village, making any development outside that boundary more difficult under the district plan.
Project spokesman Ron Anderson said while the proponents were keen to proceed, there was a ''significant amount of consultation'' required before the project could move forward.
That had started with several community groups and Arrowtown residents who had expressed support for the proposal.
Mr Anderson, the owner of Arrow International Ltd, has been building and developing retirement villages since 1988, including Wanaka's Aspiring Lifestyle Retirement Village, developed in conjunction with the Gordon family.
''We have seen first-hand the demand from people in the region and with the ageing of the population we expect this demand to grow significantly in coming years.
''This type of development is long overdue for Queenstown.
''The rest of the country is seeing ever increasing demand for retirement village living with on-site aged care and we believe it is time that this type of lifestyle was available to people in this region.''
If approved, the village would include 98 architecturally designed villas, 46 apartments, a 60-bed aged-care facility and associated amenities, including a restaurant, cafe, lounges, a library, swimming pool, gym and bowling green.
Another retirement village is planned for the Shotover Country subdivision, off State Highway 6 at Ladies Mile.
The project was put in question when ill health forced the preferred operator to review his commitments.
