MOUNTAIN SCENE:
Units appealing to investors
THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY MOUNTAIN SCENE – 28 JULY 2021
La Residence du Parc, off Arthurs Point Road, near the Coronet Peak turnoff, was completed two years ago.
It comprises two four-level, 24-unit buildings, one of which was sold down to individual investors before it was completed. The other building was held by the development company, Aedifice Queenstown Ltd, and leased to the neighbouring THC Nugget Point hotel, for visitor accommodation.
Now that two-year lease is up, ‘Hotel Park Residence’, as it’s called, is now also being sold down — with each unit again being on an individual title. As of last Friday, 15 of the 24 units had gone under contract in only 10 days. ‘‘We’re stoked,’’ Aedifice Queenstown Ltd local partner Tim Medland says. ‘‘They’re all Kiwis looking for investment properties.’’
A sales hook is the apartment complex is in a rural visitor zone, meaning units can be let out for visitor accommodation 365 days a year. Also adding to their appeal is the apartments were built using Nudura technology — an energy-efficient, insulated concrete block system which also acts as a sound barrier. ‘‘It’s built with European savoir-faire, European know-how,’’ Medland comments.
The units are wide, rather than narrow, with 11 to 12 square metre terraces encouraging outdoor living. The 23 two-bedroom units are priced from $625,000 to $975,000 and the studio’s $550,000. The top prices are for top-floor penthouses with big Shotover River views. Body corporate fees are about $3000 a year. Asking prices are only a bit dearer than for the first building, Medland says. ‘‘We got a valuation from one of the local experts, and basically we priced pretty much all of the apartments at the same level as the valuation.’’
This time, Medland and his two French partners, Heremana Malmezac and Francois Beziac are selling the units through an online wholesale real estate agency, The Property Factory, which specialises in selling multiple investment properties to buyers.
Reflecting on Arthurs Point’s growing appeal — Mountain Scene reported last month it’s proven to be a property hotspot this year — Medland believes his company’s development helped get that ball rolling. ‘‘We recognised Arthurs Point has got so many benefits, certainly with all the traffic congestion on the other part of town.’’ When his company sold down the first building, it also marketed 11 surrounding sections for about $500,000 a pop, eight of them overlooking the Shotover River. Three houses in this location are nearing completion, Medland says.