Auckland's Peter Crowe has put the resource consent process for an 85-unit worker accommodation project in the too-hard basket and moved on to other things.
The site for Infinity Group's approved $100 million, 182-room Marina Terraces Apartment Resort Hotel has been on the market since December 2008 and the developer has instead been working to complete residential projects at Peninsula Bay and Riverside.
In other cases, debt-recovery proceedings have resulted in plans being abandoned for apartment, commercial and hotel complexes on prime central business district land.
Mr Crowe resigned as a director of the IB Trust Ltd's 85-unit worker accommodation project on McDougall St last year and is now concentrating his energy on a backpackers and camping ground development in Bowen St, Queenstown.
Mr Crowe confirmed last week his 2005 proposal was "definitely not going ahead".
Aggressive objections by neighbours made the McDougall St development too hard to continue, he said.
But Mr Crowe did not doubt investors would return to the Wanaka.
"The beauty of the downturn is maybe local residents will be less aggressive about what should and shouldn't be built. That was definitely one of the issues from my point of view. There was a lot of "not in my backyard" going on," he said.
IB Trust Ltd still owns 3295sq m of bare land at 90 McDougall St (rateable value $1.6 million).
Some adjacent sections have been sold or are on the market.
Infinity Group obtained consent for the lakefront Marina Hotel in 2008 after a long Environment Court process.
It put the 13,764sq m site on the market soon after consent was granted because of the uncertain economic climate, Infinity's strategy and planning manager Marc Bretherton said.
The site is still for sale but has not been actively marketed for some time, as Infinity works on its other projects around Wanaka and in Christchurch.
Mr Bretherton said a party had been interested but was unable to complete a deal.
"At this stage, the hotel trade worldwide is pretty tough. Everyone is just keeping their heads down. But it is a great site. I don't think there is anything like it in the Southern Lakes or in the country," Mr Bretherton said.
The land held "immense value" and the consents contained enough flexibility for a future owner to do something different, Mr Bretherton said.
Real estate agents continue to regard Wanaka's market in a positive light.
Wanaka Professionals real estate agent John Morgan last week said there had been sales of a range of residential and commercial properties, with two $2 million residential properties selling in the past month.
Despite quieter activity in recent years, developers Infinity and Willowridge were continuing to work on their residential projects and two new retirement village developments were going well, Mr Morgan said.
Most Wanaka developers appeared not to have been caught out by the credit crunch that affected other parts of New Zealand, he said.
"I just think we are lucky in this town... Even mortgagee sales have been few and far between... People seem fairly well set up before they come in," Mr Morgan said.
Real estate agent Helen Henshall said she had recently sold 11 of Presbyterian Support Otago's 22 new villas.
The villas are under construction and due to be occupied in October.
"It is fair to say the interest just picked up literally in the last four weeks. I think that is because Wanaka attracts a lot of older people and their kids want them to be here with them," Mrs Henshall said.
Bayleys real estate agent Mat Andrews said activity was erratic as a result of the economic climate, although he had enjoyed good sales in the past two months.
Commenting on trends was "very hard".
"One swallow does not make a spring," Mr Andrews said.
