Michael Spektor, who founded National Retail Group, the real estate partner for the discount pharmacy chain, says they looked for a Frankton site for quite some time.
"We tried to get into a number of developments that, frankly, the developers just couldn’t stack up."
They eventually settled on a high-traffic site on the corner of Hawthorne Dr and Glenda Dr.
"We think it’s the best corner in Frankton, in Queenstown, from a retail perspective, across the road from Pak’n Save" — and along from the Five Mile-Queenstown Central shopping precincts.
Spektor says the building, with a gentle rise in the roof pitch reflecting the backdrop of the Remarkables, "is an architecturally-designed marvel".
"It’s been purpose-designed to fit into the Queenstown region and architecture.
"Queenstown has very strict rules around how buildings need to look and feel, and while in most places that’s to the developer’s chagrin and really problematic, when you get to Queenstown and realise how beautiful it is, you actually appreciate it very much."
In addition to Chemist Warehouse, which occupies about 800sqm, Spektor is also looking for a 503sqm tenant.
"We’ve got about seven tenants bashing down our doors, putting in offers — Queenstown hasn’t had any new [retail] buildings going up near the airport for a very long time because it’s very expensive and very challenging to do it, and as a result there’s a lot of pent-up demand."
He says the upstairs space will be "the best-located staff room in the world".
"My partners and I often joke that’s going to be our home away from home, our work-from-home office, because you can stand there and see the planes coming and going and of course you’ve got the Remarkables behind you."
Being built by Wānaka’s Calder Group, "we’re hoping to be open for Christmas", Spektor says.
Chemist Warehouse — holding about 66% of the retail pharmacy market in New Zealand — also opened last year in prominent corner premises in Queenstown’s CBD.
Its ownership group, Sigma Healthcare, recently tried, unsuccessfully, to buy UK pharmacy chain Boots.
