First stage of Ngāi Tahu's new Queenstown housing development complete
From reporter Debbie Jamieson:
The first apartment block in Ngāi Tahu Property’s 350-home Queenstown development Te Pā Tāhuna is complete.
The name “Takiwai” was bestowed on the building at a dawn ceremony on Thursday morning.
Ngāi Tahu Property general manager Blair Forgie said the development would help increase the housing supply in Tāhuna Queenstown.
Queenstown is in the midst of a housing crisis that is forcing much-needed workers to leave town or sleep in cars or at backpackers because they cannot find anywhere to live.
The Takiwai building consisted of 27 apartments, of which 10 were sold as part of the KiwiBuild programme, Forgie said.
At the time of sale, the KiwiBuild properties cost no more than $600,000.
The residential apartments sold in the open market were below $800,000.
They were a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.
The median sale price for a house in the Queenstown Lakes District in December was $1.2 million, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.
All the residential apartments had sold while four live-work apartments that combined residential and non-residential uses were still available and ranged in price from $850,000 to $975,000.
Roading and services infrastructure for the overall Te Pā Tāhuna development was nearing completion and the next stage of the construction was due to begin later this year.
It would have 66 apartments and was expected to be completed mid-2025.
The development is built on the former Wakatipu High School site in Gorge Rd, a short walk from central Queenstown.
Takiwai is a translucent variety of greenstone, olive-green with streaks of white – found at Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) and Te Wai Pounamu.
Takiwai is favoured as a softer type of pounamu as it is easier to make into a finer quality product.
In March 2019, then Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford announced the old high school land would be redeveloped to address help Queenstown’s housing shortage.
In October that year, Minister of Housing Megan Woods announced the development agreement for the Tāhuna Development had been signed off.
The complete development would have more than 350 homes including 100-plus KiwiBuild apartments for first home buyers.
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