The Central Otago District Council is set to reap several million dollars from a joint venture residential development proposed in Alexandra.
The Central Otago District Council yesterday approved the Vincent Community Board's recommendation to sell 6.5ha of council-owned land north of the Molyneux netball courts, alongside the Otago Central Rail Trail.
It has not announced who the joint venture partner might be, and the council's implementation plan says interest would be ''invited'' for the joint venture in November. It was aimed to have subdivision consent by February-March next year, development from March to September and settlement of sections from October next year onwards, although this was an ''aggressive implementation plan'', the report noted.
The council would receive 50% of the net profit, with a minimum guaranteed of $500,000.
The value of the land is estimated at $2.3 million, and the estimated minimum return after development costs was $2.8 million, a report by CODC property officer Tara Bates said.
But another estimate in the report put the 50% of net profit at $1.2 million, meaning the return to council and ratepayers would be greater.
The report said the reason for the project was to satisfy the demand for residential sections in Alexandra.
''This is based on feedback from developers, real estate agents and builders that there are no other residential developments of any significance planned to come to the market.''
The advantages of the joint venture development included enabling the council to share in the estimated profit on development without providing any capital development funding, the report said.
