From stables to ski villas
With Queenstown’s winter ski season in full swing, there are eight new homes turning heads on Packhorse Lane in Arthur’s Point. The rich history of the site dates back to the 1860’s gold rush, during which time miners would make the arduous journey out of Skipper’s Canyon to sell their newfound gold.
Along the way they would make the mandatory stop at the Gantley’s Hotel for a few drinks after weeks of hard living in the freezing canyon. Now the site of the Packhorse Lane homes, the land bordering the hotel was scattered with stables and ancillary buildings where the miners would tie up their pack horses, from which derives the road name.
In 2016, the Wanaka-based construction company, Blueview Developments, purchased the 1800 square metre site and started the design process for the development. With decades of experience in building high quality, custom homes, investment properties and holiday houses, Blueview’s Director Bruce Flett knew the value of the unique zoning of the land.
“The Rural Visitor Accommodation zoning is quite unique in that it provides the site with great versatility and enables purchasers to choose between living in the homes, renting them out on long term tenancies, or renting them out on a short-term basis, up to 365 days per year,” he says.
In addition to the zoning, one of Packhorse Lane’s greatest features is the central location and proximity to some of Queenstown’s best attractions. The Packhorse homes are the closest new accommodation to the Coronet Peak ski area, giving owners and guests the opportunity to be the first skiers on the chairlifts each morning.
Despite being so close to the ski field, the homes are still just a few minutes’ drive to central Queenstown’s restaurant scene and boutique shopping area, not to mention they are also within walking distance of the Onsen Hot Pools and a couple of minutes from the famous Shotover Jet.
The new homes were designed to fit seamlessly into the landscape through the use of natural timbers and colours. Spacing the homes correctly was critical to creating a community feel between the dwellings, yet suitable privacy has been maintained through clever landscaping and planting.
Two specification levels were offered to purchasers to tailor their homes to how they intended to use them. For an additional cost, the premium specification included the introduction of upmarket conveniences such as heated tiled bathrooms, ducted heating, stone bench tops and a thermal window package.
Every home was designed with the same floor plan, consisting of three spacious bedrooms, three bathrooms, a bespoke entertainer’s kitchen, open plan dining and living areas which flow onto a large exposed aggregate patio. The patio is built ready for a hot tub to be fitted at one end, giving skiers the perfect place to relax and recover after long days on the snow.
Throughout the design process, Blueview was mindful of the end user and how they would be utilising the homes. One exciting new feature added was Wi-Fi-controllable heating. Each tiled area features under tile heating, which can be operated from your smart phone, giving owners the ability to turn on and set a desired floor temperature for each zone, such as a bathroom, kitchen or hallway.
The Daikin heat pumps fitted also feature the same smart connectivity, allowing the air temperatures in individual rooms to be set by the owners before they return home. The benefit of this modern technology is two-fold – electricity running costs are reduced through the ability to selectively heat the home on a room-by-room basis and you can turn your heating on while you are still on the ski field chair lift, and return to a warm home after driving back down the mountain.
Although the homes are packed full of the latest products, Blueview’s Southern Lakes Manager, James Flett, explains that these features needed to be carefully balanced with providing the homes at an affordable price point. “From the outset we wanted to build high quality, functional homes on this site, but we also needed to ensure the homes would achieve strong financial returns for our clients.
The homes have been appraised to attract six percent annual returns through long-term rental, and even higher returns are expected on a short-term rental basis. These strong rental returns, coupled with steady capital gain, will provide our clients with fantastic additions to their investment portfolios.”
Blueview offers its clients a design and build service, house and land packages, and investment property construction.
Find out more about Blueview by visiting their website – www.blueview.co.nz.
