PHOTO
Predating current plans, Auckland-based Shundi Group spent years battling for consent to build a luxury hotel on this site after buying it for $10.5m in 2016.
In ’17 it proposed a $60m, 68-room hotel, later adding a storey to increase capacity to 82 rooms and four suites.
Queenstown’s council rejected the proposal in 2020, mainly over concerns about vehicle access and the impact of traffic and parking in nearby streets.
The council came on board when the arterial road project saw Shundi revise its vehicle access design.
Several opposing neighbours went to the Environment Court in 2021, which said Shundi needed to address concerns over shading in winter.
In ’24, the court approved what was now a 75-room, four-suite hotel.
However, Shundi, which was also building a now-stalled 52-storey apartment tower in Auckland, did not proceed and was placed in receivership this March.
