A parcel of land with historic connections to the early development of Queenstown’s Frankton Flats is up for sale after sitting empty for 108 years.
The 5,199sqm piece of land, spread over three titles, was bought in 1913 by Robert Grant as part of the Grant Family Farm and has never been on the market.
The land’s perched on the hillside above Queenstown’s Frankton Road with outstanding views towards The Remarkables mountain range, an easy two-minute walk to lakeside walking and biking tracks and the Frankton Marina.
Of the farmland originally bought by Robert Grant, 72 hectares was sold to the Queenstown Airport Corporation in December 1996, enabling the runway extension and development of playing fields alongside the Queenstown Events Centre.
A further 277 hectares on Queenstown Hill is still being farmed by Robert’s descendants operating in a family trust. It’s the trust that has decided to sell the Frankton Road parcel of land to help fund an innovative retail development project.
The Grant family will use proceeds of the sale to further develop their ‘Country Lane’ boutique and artisan style retail hub where old cabins salvaged from the former council-run Queenstown campground are being given a new lease of life.
Bruce Grant and his sister Tineke Enright, fourth generation guardians of Robert’s property, aren’t particularly interested in farming so when their parents Tilly and Bill Grant retired they began transforming some of the old farm buildings.
The first to get a makeover was the old barn built by their grandfather in the early 50’s which houses furniture, homewares and Tineke’s childrens’ clothing label Pretty Kiwi. The centre’s now also home to the Buzzstop Honey Centre, Mount Michael Wines, Posh Paws, Ride To The Sky, Bright Ink and Wakatipu Therapeutic Massage.
Five former campground cabins are being established on the site which will house new businesses due to open in spring with everything from pottery to plants.
Bruce Grant says selling the Frankton Road property will hugely subsidise the new development.
“It’s a pretty cool spot, a stunning piece of land that’s already zoned differently to the rest of the property so it’s ripe for development,” he says. “The topography of the land lends itself to multiple units like the Mantra Marina apartments across the road and there’s plenty of good access.”
Marketed by David Poppleton and Peter Nelson of Harcourts Queenstown, the land will be sold by deadline sale on June 10 to give buyers the opportunity to make conditional offers while they seek independent advice on the use of the land.
David and Peter describe this as a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to buy a large section, with plenty of potential, in an outstanding location.
They believe it will most likely appeal to a developer keen on building units, someone looking to subdivide into sections or to land-bank for the future.
Access to the site is from the first corner of Marina Drive and there are also two legal access points from the private road above it which also serves as an access road to the rest of the farm.
The Frankton Road street frontage is 110 metres along the south boundary and a small block of council-owned land with a tree-covered pathway leads from the land’s main access point on Marina Drive to the bus stop opposite the Marina entrance.