A legal appeal against resource consents issued to the Aspiring Lifestyle Retirement Village in Wanaka has been dropped by the owner of a property neighbouring the big development.
Aspiring Lifestyle managing director Aaron Armstrong launched stage two of construction of the massive project this week.
A significant crowd, which included Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden, gathered at the village yesterday to open the complex's new lodge building, which forms a centre-piece social facility at the heart of the development.
Aspiring Lifestyle neighbours Peter and Lisa Jackson appealed a Queenstown Lakes District Council resource consent, which approved a change in the staged "master plan" development of the large-scale retirement complex.
Mr Armstrong said an agreement had been reached between the two parties which addressed issues raised by the Jacksons, but declined to comment on any terms of the out-of-court settlement.
When completed, the complex will include 110 villas, 46 apartments, and a 65-bed hospital-care facility on a 46.8ha site opposite the Wanaka Golf Course.
Aspiring Lifestyle's developers estimate the retirement village will contribute $100 million to the local economy. More than 30 local service providers and tradesmen are expected to be employed on the project during the coming months.
The development had experienced a delay of about six weeks, which was not overly significant given consent was initially granted in January, Mr Armstrong said.
Half the planned 14 villas in stage two of the development had already been sold and, with construction now cleared to begin next month, more certainty could be offered to buyers about future schedules, he said.
"We've now got consent for the whole development and we will not have to go back to review our master plan," Mr Armstrong said.
Pre-sales for stage three of the village were also strong and the construction project could be escalated if demand necessitated, he said.
