Treespace Queenstown Ltd founder Adam Smith told independent commissioners at a resource consent hearing in the resort yesterday it was a commercially funded project with the potential to be a ''symbol of regeneration and biodiversity transformation''.
The proposal aimed to generate enough revenue from section sales to cover the costs of buying the station, the staged planting of trees and the ongoing management and maintenance of the 1768ha property.
Less than two hectares of total building footprint would be needed to regenerate the former farm.
In the long term, revenue would also come from section owner levies, tourism activities, visitor accommodation and carbon credits.
The profit margin would be ''significantly lower'' than for a development project, and its investors accepted they would earn an accordingly lower long-term return, he said.
Treespace took possession of the property in June last year, and applied for publicly notified consent in January.
Of more than 90 submissions received, 55 were supportive and 34 opposed. The rest were either neutral or withdrawn.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council's planning report concluded the proposal was ''inappropriate'' in its current form, and the environment incapable of absorbing it.
A lawyer for Treespace, Mike Holm, said farming was not commercially viable on the property.
Without some kind of economic development, it would continue reverting to an ''unsightly and unnatural'' combination of wilding pines, bracken and introduced pests.
The council's planning report and landscape assessment overlooked the ''reality and the challenge'' facing anyone owning the property.
Although the development would be visible in the short term, the tree planting would make the buildings and roads ''reasonably difficult'' to see in seven to 10 years.
The hearing resumes today.
