It will include KiwiBuild homes to ease the ongoing shortage of affordable housing
Ngāi Tahu Property’s 350-home development in central Queenstown is set to begin soon following the approval for the first stage.
David Kennedy, chief executive of Ngāi Tahu Property, confirmed that the Queenstown Lakes District Council granted resource consent for subdividing the former Wakatipu High School site into large blocks and installing roads and pipes – with the first buildings of the project being designed already.
“We are currently tendering for this work and hope to begin by the end of February,” Kennedy said. “Ngāi Tahu Property would apply for further resource consents and building consents in due course.”
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The project will include 105 KiwiBuild homes to help ease the worrying shortage of affordable housing in Queenstown. They will cost no more than $650,000 each, which is less than the region’s average house price of $1.2 million.
Ngāi Tahu kaiwhakahaere Lisa Tumahai said last year that the project was important for the iwi.
“We know all too well, being one of the largest employers here in Queenstown, what those housing issues are like. The very backbone of the hospitality industry, the tourism industry, the staff that work here in Queenstown, actually can't afford to live here in central Queenstown,” Tumahai said.
The first KiwiBuild homes are expected to be available on the site in 2022.
