Developer buys Scurr Heights for $15.6m

Universal Development general manager Dan Curley (left) and company owner Lane Hocking on their...
Universal Development general manager Dan Curley (left) and company owner Lane Hocking on their new Scurr Heights land in Wanaka. Photo by Mark Price.

Sections in the last big chunk of Wanaka with lake and mountain views could be on the market by Christmas.

Wanaka developer Lane Hocking confirmed yesterday his company Universal Developments had bought the 10.69ha bare-land block known as Scurr Heights from the Queenstown Lakes District Council for $15.65 million plus GST.

"We think it's a great piece of land. We're genuinely excited. We think there will be something for everybody and it will end up being an excellent subdivision.''

The council received 15 tenders for the land.

Mr Hocking said the timing had been good for his company, which was nearing completion of its Dungarvon development.

Surveyors and landscape architects had already been engaged to prepare a scheme plan that would include between 100 and 150 sections.

The Scurr Heights land is on the south side of Aubrey Rd, opposite the new Kirimoko subdivision, and has a rateable value of $4.8 million.

General manager Dan Curley said he was "ready to roll up his sleeves and get into it'' and while the land would be developed in stages, he believed some "pre-sales'' could be made before the end of the year.

Mr Curley said what made the Scurr Heights location different from the big new Northlake and Three Parks developments was its outlook and location.

While set back from the lake, the land offered unimpeded lake and mountain views, and was close to schools and other amenities.

The land is zoned low-density residential, but the council's new district plan proposes making it medium density.

That would mean it could be used for terrace housing, semidetached housing and detached townhouses, generally of no more than two storeys, on smaller sections.

Deputy Mayor Lyal Cocks said that when the council decided at its meeting on Thursday to sell the land, it also called on chief executive Mike Theelen to set up a process for using the proceeds.

"We just want the [chief executive] and Stewart Burns [chief financial officer] to put together some sort of guiding principles ... and then we put some ideas on the table to see if they meet that.''

Asked if the money would be spent in Wanaka rather than across the district, Mr Cocks said that question would be answered through the process.

"At this stage, the suggestion is it is Wanaka ward stuff, but that's not a definite thing yet.''

The council's budget for Wanaka's new swimming pool requires $2.77million to be raised from land sales and fundraising.

After some substantial donations, about $1.27million has yet to be made up from land sales.

Mr Cocks said he could not say at this stage if money from Scurr Heights would be used for that purpose.

mark.price@odt.co.nz

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