Building work gets back into high gear

Work will begin to double the size of the Remarkables Park Town Centre development at Frankton in the next few months.

Remarkables Park director Alastair Porter said last night Queenstown was "back on a steady growth projection" after a slow couple of years, with interest from commercial and retail tenants picking up dramatically since Christmas.

"Interest has definitely picked up. Queenstown had a good winter (in 2009) and Queenstown has again had a good summer, which appears to have given people a lot of confidence locally and nationally," Mr Porter said.

There had been a lot more interest from commercial showrooms, national and local retailers and local buyers wanting to buy land for development.

"Development is always hard work but we are constantly working towards new projects."

Earthworks were about to begin to double the size of the existing shopping centre in the next three or four weeks with more larger shops and a few smaller ones. He hoped all the necessary approvals could be secured to proceed with construction on that by the end of this year.

Construction would get under way on a new Remarkables Park Town Centre 1100sq m store in six tenancies in front of Noel Leemings next month.

A new three-level, 1800 sqm, commercial building, incorporating a cafe and retail premises, would get under way next to the Remarkables Park BNZ Bank by the end of May.

The existing shopping centre could handle double its capacity, Mr Porter said.

The company had also just sold a large 2000sq m site next to the Wakatipu New World and the new owners were working on development plans already.

Another two large sites, 1.3ha and 1.2ha, were being negotiated for sale.

On the opposite side of Queenstown Airport, Remarkable's Park's sister company Shotover Park was now well into the development of its second 14ha stage, which was one third sold, with another third under negotiation. That land had been largely bought by local companies, Mr Porter said.

Remarkables Park still had more than 100ha of land left for high density development, education, a village resort, parks and recreation, Mr Porter said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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