Concrete pour marks milestone

Scott Merrilees (left) and Chris Fleming, of building firm Naylor Love, work at the Five Mile...
Scott Merrilees (left) and Chris Fleming, of building firm Naylor Love, work at the Five Mile development near Queenstown Airport. Photo by David Williams.

The $130 million Five Mile development near Queenstown Airport hits a big milestone this weekend.

The first ''ground level'' concrete floor pour is scheduled for today - cementing the development's rise from what used to be known as ''Hendo's hole''.

The retail project, by Auckland developer Tony Gapes' Redwood Group, has confirmed tenants for stage one include Countdown, Briscoes and Rebel Sport. Other confirmed tenants on the site - which includes a large basement car park - include a Warehouse Stationery and Number One Shoes.

Naylor Love project manager Jamie Gibson said: ''We've had a couple of good months now, especially with the weather which has held off a little bit for us - we're punching ahead with this ground floor level.''

Stage one will take in about 14,000sq m of retail space, 2000sq m of office space and a child care centre occupying 900sq m; part of the project's total 27,000sq m of retail space.

Another supermarket, a Pak'n Save, will be built at the nearby Shotover Business Park development, while on the other side of the airport, a retail development known as The Landing is being built opposite the Remarkables Park Town Centre.

The first of three buildings there is scheduled to be open later this year.

Stephen Brent, a partner of Queenstown property lawyers Cavell Leitch, said the town's commercial builders have some good years ahead of them.

''When you look at Five Mile, when you look at what's going in beside there at Shotover Park, and also the land in the middle there, which is the subject of Plan Change 19, that's earmarked for a whole lot of commercial development as well.''

He noted the southern side of the airport is notable not just for The Landing but the continued expansion of the Porter brothers' Remarkables Park development.

Five Mile was originally conceived by the now-bankrupt businessman Dave Henderson, whose company Five Mile Holdings collapsed in 2008.

Mr Henderson's company had been loaned more than $70 million by the now-collapsed Hanover Finance for what was meant to be a $2 billion development.

david.williams@odt.co.nz

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