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Four significant Wanaka lakefront properties with a collective rateable value of $3.5 million are on the market for the first time as one parcel.Bayleys Wanaka is marketing the properties for The Roy Project Company Ltd and the deadline treaty process closes on February 17.
The agent has described the property as "the first significant development offering of 2017" and a "rare" opportunity to buy something just a few minutes walk from Wanaka's town centre.
The lots sit on top of artesian springs that flow under the Lismore Street escarpment into Roys Bay.
The springs also flow through other Lakeside Road properties and in some places they have been been landscaped into cascading falls and fish ponds.
Many Wanaka locals fill their water bottles at a nearby spring outlet and several years ago the Wanaka Springs Community Trust developed a $50,000 lakefront feature using the artesian water.
Bayleys Wanaka director Mat Andrews said the springs could be managed.
"I would suggest they [buyers] would have to have a geotechnical report to establish how much work any development would need to be done," he said.
Two of the sections have homes on them and the other two are covered in scrubby weed. Collectively, they occupy 3780m2.
Bayleys agent Sharon Donnelly is encouraging potential purchasers to consider anything from multi-unit development to private homes.
"Development opportunities of this calibre, in such close proximity to the town centre and lake, are not often found, and the option to own all or some of these lots to develop multiple complexes or several residential dwellings is very attractive," she said.
Donnelly suggested speculators might encounter some hot competition from private buyers who were also looking for a smart investment in the growing town.
Andrews said more permanent residents were coming to live in Wanaka and the potential for development on Lakeside Road had exciting implications for the town's future.
The Roy Project Company Ltd is directed by Wanaka businessman David Smallbone and Dunedin motor vehicle magnate Kenneth Cummings.
They investigated options for a 15-unit development at 47 Lakeside Road in 2012, but did not proceed.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council provided development contribution quotes ranging between $1.18 million and $1.54 million.
A succession of previous landowners have dreamed of building multi-unit residential or visitor accommodation developments on some of the lots, but despite gaining consent, the visionary concepts did not proceed for various reasons.
Former proposals ranged from eight to 30 apartments. Some were just two levels; the largest was the proposed five story 57 On The Lake complex, spearheaded in the early 2000s by developer Ian Lowe.
Previous developers also commissioned geotechnical reports and their consents included conditions to manage the water flows.
For example, had 57 On The Lake gone ahead, 11,500m3 of material would have been removed to enable construction. Another condition was to build a piled retaining wall to protect neighbouring properties.
The council's edocs website contains reports that discuss seepage flows, land stability issues and sedimentation control methods for 53 and 59 Lakeside Road.
Just along the road is another large, spring-fed site owned by Multiplied Investment Partners, which purchased the land from Infinity Investment Group Ltd in 2015.
Construction on the consented $85 million Marina Terrace Apartments development is scheduled to start in February.
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